Getting To Know You
by ScoobyDooLove
Summary: Hope Mikaelson was sent away fifteen years ago. The Mikaelson family have been looking for her for what feels like ages and when they finally find her, she isn't the person they had expected her to be. Will the family motto Always And Forever still remain? Or will Hope's life become their ending? Follow Hope's struggling decisions with her supernatural family.
1. Impulsive or Stupid?

Hey everyone! This is sort of my first fanfiction that I write in english, you should all know that english is not my first language so please be gentle!

This is my story about Hope Mikaelson's first couple of weeks (maybe months) with her family after they sent her away. It's basically focused on Hope's relationship with her father, Klaus. If you don't like the way I write their interaction, then I recommend you don't read it, but if you do find it appealing, then please leave me a review!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, everything is the creators of The Originals doings. Although I believe I'm allowed to say that I own a bit of Hope Mikaelson ...

Btw, I thought **Selena Gomez** would make a great almost-seventeen-year-old Hope Mikaelson in this fanfiction, at least that's how I've been picturing her.

_Future references: possible Elijah + Hayley (Haylijah) and Klaus + Caroline (Klaroline)_

Enjoy!

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**Chapter 1 – Impulsive or Stupid? **

"Okay, watch closely," she said before aiming at the street with the balloon filled with water. The teenaged girl dressed in ripped skinny jeans, tank top and a grey hoodie smiled as she dropped the balloon from the top of the building. At the bottom, where loads of people were walking on their way to their jobs, the balloon managed to hit a man wearing a suit that looked brand new.

"Hide!"

The two sixteen year old kids crouched as the man confusingly looked up and stayed silent for a couple of seconds before they burst out in laughter.

"I don't get how you do it," the blonde guy said as he stood up again to make sure that the coast was clear. "No matter if there is one person on the street or one hundred you always succeed to get a perfect hit."

"So? Call me a natural talent, now come on Sam, we're going to be late for school."

"Another thing I don't get about you, Hope," Sam said and picked up his bag from the floor. "You can do whatever else but not skip school."

Hope shrugged her shoulders. "So?"

Sam sighed at his brunette friend. A lot of people wasn't able to see the beauty of her, with her intense gaze of light blue eyes, light olive skin and long brown hair that fell loose over her shoulders and the dark eyebrows of hers. Hope wasn't one who walked around showing people what she looked like with pride, although she was aware of the attention she could get if she wanted to.

"It's just weird," Sam continued as they climbed down the ladder and reached the ground. "I don't get it."

"I've told you before, if I don't get an education then I wont get a proper job and a better place to stay than the apartment that me and my mom lives in. It's pretty simple if you think about it."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Come on then and stop complaining." Hope smiled at her best friend before putting on her leather jacket that she pulled out from her worn out backpack.

The community school Hope attended in Brooklyn wasn't much to brag about, half of the teachers were more lazy than the students and their teaching capability sucked. But Hope still tried her best in school, even though she didn't have to put too much effort into it.

As usual Hope and Sam were the last ones to walk into the classroom. They walked past the rest of the students and sat down at their places in the back of the room.

"So mr Grey and miss Jones decided to show up today after all," their math teacher mr Cole announced as he slammed the door shut. At once everyone got quiet and turned their attention toward him.

Mr Cole was one of the few teachers who actually took his job seriously, maybe because he was so young and still wasn't tired of it.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Hope commented before dropping her backpack on the floor next to her desk. She leaned back in her seat and pulled the hood over her head.

"Sorry to disappoint you, _mr Cole_," he said. "A bit of politeness wouldn't harm you, miss Jones. And put the hood down."

Hope let out a sigh, her brain told her to do as mr Cole said, but her pride said otherwise.

"Whatever," she mumbled already knowing what kind of consequences she would get herself in after this lesson.

"Did you say something, miss Jones?" mr Cole asked.

Rest of the class were curiously following their conversation and Sam gave Hope warning looks over his shoulder, which she decided to ignore.

"Maybe you should take care of your own business instead of mine," she said leaning forward on her elbows.

"Oh really? Maybe you should think about your _business_ in detention this afternoon." Mr Cole turned toward the black board without another look at her. Hope shook her head and leaned back again closing her eyes, why did she always had to prove herself?

Sam gave her a I-told-you-so look over his shoulder before giving her a wide smile.

"Shut up," she muttered.

* * *

Hope drummed the pen against her desk while watching the clock on the wall. It felt like the seconds ticked slower and slower every minute that passed. A one hour detention hadn't been on her mind earlier this morning, but Hope didn't regret her lack of manners.

"Would you mind quitting that?" mr Cole asked. He looked up from his pile of math test they had taken a couple of days ago.

"Yes," she answered continuing drumming.

"Look, if there is something going on with you I'm all ears, okay? You're a bright girl, you have straight A's and your attendance in school is almost perfect. Why make it more complicated?"

Hope sighed and put the pen down on her desk. She didn't want to talk about personal stuff with anyone, not even Sam who was her best friend.

"I'm fine," she insisted. "Seriously."

Mr Cole gazed at her intently, she knew he was trying to find something that would tell him that she was lying. But she kept her face calm, without moving any muscle to reveal herself.

If people knew the truth about her they would shut her out. Judge her and probably even laugh at her. She couldn't stand that, she enjoyed being the person they all looked up to and respected. No one had the guts to stand up against her and that's the way she liked it.

But the truth why she tried so hard to succeed in school was because she wanted to get out of New York. She hated it there, her dad had left her when she was seven years old with another woman. Now he lived in Kansas with his new wife and kids. Hope's mom was both a drug addict and an alcoholic. Every time Hope got home to their small apartment she found her laying on the sofa with a bottle of scotch next to her.

On top of it all she knew she was adopted, on one of her mom's dark days she had told Hope that she wasn't her real mother and given her a letter from her real mom. Hope had been eight years old, and that day she had decided never to trust anyone.

She didn't need a family and they clearly didn't need her either. Hope could handle herself, she didn't need anyone bossing her around telling her what to do.

"One hour has passed," she said pointing toward the clock on the wall. Mr Cole nodded with a sigh.

"See you tomorrow, miss Jones," he said and waved his hand.

Hope didn't bother to answer, instead she picked up her backpack from the floor and tossed it over her shoulder before stepping out of the classroom.

Sam was probably at home already, he, unlike her, actually had parents and someone that greeted him when he got home. She knew his parents didn't like her, they thought she had bad influence on him.

Of course she didn't care about their opinion in the matter.

She walked toward the subway station as she always did after school. She knew her mother would be awake by now and she wasn't in the mood of another fight with her. The least she could do right now was to pick some rich person's wallet and spend the money on food. It was kind of her way to relax her nerves after she had been angry or irritated.

She took the subway to the Central Park, most of the easiest victims had been rid of their money there because of her.

She walked through the literary walk while trying to find someone who had more money than what he or she needed. Most of the people walking there were parents with their children. Then she saw him – a handsome man with muscular but thin body wearing a nice suit - walking only a couple of steps in front of her. He walked in a weird kind of old-school walk and seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

Hope didn't waste any time, the next second she had run past him and shoved him as she did. Quicker than her eye could see, she had managed to steal the watch around his wrist.

She kept on running as fast as her feet could bear her when she heard the man calling after her.

She was just about to smile for her victory when she had to stop immediately and nearly fall down on the ground because of the sudden stop. The man she had taken the watch from stood in front of her, without even breathing heavy. How could he have run that fast without getting tired?

It was like he had been at two places at the same time, one second he had been several steps behind her – and the next right in front of her.

"Wow, how did you-"

"My watch, _please_," he cut her off with one hand outstretched and the other one in the pocket of his pants.

She looked up at his face, he was much taller than she was and had a majestic, proud look on his face. He had an angular face – high cheekbones, strong jaw line and straight nose. With hazel brown eyes and short brown hair. Hope guessed he was in his late twenties.

He didn't look at her, his gaze went back and forth on the people behind her. Was he afraid that someone would see them?

"How did you do that?" she asked completely ignoring the irritation in his voice. "Are you on drugs or something?"

He turned his eyes to meet hers for the first time and for a moment his forehead went into deep wrinkles. He blinked a couple of times before he got back to the present.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Don't play games with me, girl," he warned with his eyes darkened.

"Fine, it's Fiona," she lied tugging her sleeve with her free hand. The other one held a tight grip around the man's watch.

"You're lying." It wasn't a question, more like a angry statement. He took a step closer toward her and even though she wanted to run away she couldn't. She stood like frozen, her legs wouldn't move and her heart pounded like a hummingbird's inside her chest.

"Hope," she whispered. "My name is Hope."

She was angry with herself, she never got scared. Not of anything, last time she had been scared was when her parents had fought and that had been ages ago.

The man's eyes widened and he took a step backwards again, he looked like he had seen a ghost. Hope had never in her almost seventeen year old life been unsure about anything, but there was something different about this man and she could feel it.

"What is the name of your mother?" he continued asking as he got his stiff appearance back.

"Why don't you tell me your name first and then I might tell you what you want to know?" she shoot back with the little bravery she got left.

"I'm not here to play twenty questions," he said amused.

She raised her eyebrows, no way she would give this one up without some sort of agreement. Frightening or not, she was not weak. To make herself more clear, she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Elijah," he said. "Elijah Mikaelson. Now, please tell me the name of your mother."

The people who walked past them didn't seem to notice them at all, they just kept on walking and talking about whatever they found interesting. Hope almost wished that someone would stop and ask if everything was okay, so she would get a chance to run off.

"I don't know," she breathed. "I was adopted."

Elijah shook his head while whispering: "It can't be."

Hope's heart rate once again started to beat faster, did this man know something about her?

"Show me your right wrist," he commanded without taking his eyes off hers.

Hope felt compelled to do as he said and so she did. She exposed her right lower arm where she had five freedom birds tattooed on the side to cover up a scar she had had her entire life.

Before Hope had any chance to react, Elijah had come forward and taking her arm in his hands. She tried to struggle against his grip but it was no use. He was both older and stronger than her.

Elijah eyed her tattoos and let one finger touch the exact spot where the remaining of her scar still was. Hope flinched and finally got out of his grip.

"I can't believe it," he said looking into her eyes again. "We have been looking for you for five years."

"Look, if you're some kind of phsycopath or something just take whatever you want. I've got nothing to lose," she said with a hurry and held out the watch to him. "Here, take it, I don't want it."

Elijah took the watch and put it back around his wrist.

"You're coming with me," he stated.

"Wow, hold on a sec. I'm impulsive, not _stupid_. I won't go anywhere with you!"

She took a step backwards. She felt stuck, she knew he was both faster and stronger than her – probably even smarter so her option of running wasn't going to work. Although she had to admit that she was a bit curious about him, why he had reacted the way he did when she had told him her name? Like she was some sort of thing that had been lost in a long time but now was found.

"I haven't got time for your games, Hope," he said.

"Give me one good reason to go with you," she slowly said.

Elijah gave her a weak smile. "You said it yourself, you've got nothing to lose."

She already knew she would go with him, for some strange reason she found herself kind of trusting him. He looked familiar, almost like she had heard his voice before. It made her feel calm, like she finally could breathe without thinking it might be her last time of doing it.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked as she took a couple of slow steps toward him.

"Home."

The picture of a torn down apartment that appeared in her mind made her grimace, hopefully that wasn't the place that he meant.

"And where is that?"

"New Orleans."

Hope kept on walking beside him although she felt her heart sink inside her chest. New Orleans? That meant that she wouldn't go to school and Sam would be alone. Not that she actually did care for either of them, sure Sam was a good friend and school was ... well it was school.

"How do I know you're not lying to me?" she asked gazing at him with a look she hoped seemed somewhat terrifying. "That you won't just kill me?"

"Are you afraid of dying?" he asked calmly.

"No." That wasn't a lie. "I'm not afraid of anything."

"Well then," Elijah smiled. "I guess you'll just have to wait and see. If you aren't afraid of anything, as you claim."

Hope stared at him, he was _challenging_ her. She loved a challenge, no matter the subject – she would never back down.

"Fine,"she snorted. "But can we make one quick stop before we go to New Orleans?"

"Of course, Hope."

"Good."

* * *

**Elijah's POV:**

He couldn't believe it, there she was. Fully alive without any bigger scratches on her, except for the old, torn clothes she was wearing. It made her look tough, though. Which gave him the feeling that she definitely was her mother's daughter.

Hayley had never given up the search of her daughter, even though they had been searching for Hope for over five years. Rebekah had tried her best to hide her, but everything had happened so quickly. One minute they had been safe – the next everything had fallen apart.

None of the members of the Mikaelson family had been able to stop the witches from seeking Hope, at least not at that point. Rebekah had had no other choice than give her up for adoption. Klaus had been furious and killed off every single witch he could find.

The most surprising thing about this whole story was that the witches had figured out that Hope hadn't died. They had covered up every single track of her existence back in New Orleans, but they still somehow managed to find out about her.

It had taken them a decade to clean up the mess they had made in New Orleans and when they finally could get settled, then it was too late for them to find Hope. None of the adoption agencies had been able to help them, Hope had gone missing.

Klaus on the other hand hadn't showed any of his emotions, of course, but Elijah had been able to see the worry in his eyes.

He couldn't prevent himself from chuckling when he looked into Hope's eyes. Klaus had mentioned that she had a hint of the devil in her eyes, and as usual with all his assumptions, he was right.

"What?" she asked obviously not keen on his sudden impulse of laughing.

"You have your father's eyes," he explained. "My brother's eyes."

Hope swallowed, this must be hard for her. Hearing about a family far away from her that only waited for her to appear some day. Elijah couldn't even imagine how overwhelmed she was.

"So, you're my uncle."

"Yes."

"Cool," she said shrugging without letting herself show any emotions – once again just as her father.

They got to his car, a huge black Range Rover parked on the street beside a chinese restaurant.

"Is this your car?" she asked, trying not to sound too impressed.

"Yes," he answered. Hope walked toward the car and stopped to look at her own reflection in the window.

"You may have your father's eyes," Elijah said hesitantly. "But you've got your mother's looks."

Hope stood still for a moment, still watching herself in the window before she suddenly took a hard grip around the handle on the door and pulled it open.

"I don't have a mother."


	2. Road Trip with the Buzzkiller

Thank you for your kind reviews and for following/favorite my story! It really means a lot! :')  
I try to make this story as reliable as possible, although it isn't that easy and I apologize if anyone disagree with the words I've written.  
As before, I remind you that english isn't my native language so I apologize for any grammar mistakes and such stuff ..

Please continue read and review. I would love to know your thoughts about Hope so far!:)

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**Chapter 2 – Road trip with the buzzkiller**

Elijah stayed silent as he drove away from Central Park and toward her home in Brooklyn. She had her gaze outside the window without as much as giving him a little of her attention. She didn't want to.

"Turn right here," she said and straighten up. "You can park over there."

The houses there were high, with most of the windows either broken or boarded-up. Hope filled her lungs with air before letting it out slowly.

"Wait here," she said unbuckling her seat belt and getting out of the car. "Promise me that you will stay here and not follow me in."

Elijah studied her face and was just about to answer when she cut him off.

"I don't want mother to worry, I'll be back in a sec." And before he had the chance to answer she had run off toward the staircase in front of the car.

Hope took two steps at a time as she ran up to the third floor. She picked up the key from her jeans-pocket and unlocked the door. She stayed silent for a moment to make sure that her mom was asleep before she pushed some advertisement papers from the floor and closed the door behind her as silent as she could.

The apartment smelled like a locked-up basement mixed with smoke and alcohol, she couldn't breathe in there. Slowly she tipped over to the kitchen slash living room where she also found her mother lying on the couch head-down and with a bottle of scotch on the table.

"Not again," she whispered.

Without as much as a second look at her mother she walked over the room and through a door into her bedroom. Papers, books and clothes were lying everywhere around the floor. A mattress were on the floor together with a dark piece of paper that she had read through every night since she could remember.

She had read it so many times that she had memorized the words, but it still made her heart break every time she read it. It made her angry, disappointed and sad. The three feelings she hated. She picked up a pair of clean clothes from the floor and pressed it inside her backpack together with her headphones and the small amount of money that she owned, before walking over the room and picking up the paper.

It was a miracle that she still could read the words on it, she had ripped it in piece's several times and fixed it with tape over and over again. The dark ink was almost impossible to read, but it didn't stop her from scanning it with her eyes.

_Dear Zoe... or Kaitlyn... or Angela._

_To my little girl:_

_Your dad just asked if this was a love letter. I guess it kind of is.  
__I never got to know my mother. I have no idea what she must have felt when she carried me.  
__So I thought I'd write to you, so that you could know how happy I am at this very moment.  
H__ow much your father and I can't wait to meet you.  
__And I want to make you a promise, three things you will have that I never did.  
A safe home. Someone to tell you that they love you every single day. And someone to fight for you, no matter what.  
In other words, a family.  
So there you go, baby girl. The rest we're gonna have to figure out together._

_I love you,_

_Your Mom_

"You lied," she said with broken voice as she folded the letter and put it in her pocket. She didn't bother looking back twice as she stepped out of the apartment, neither did she leave a note to her mother. She wouldn't notice her being gone anyway.

For the first time in a while she actually felt relieved, she finally got to leave New York and her so-called home. She smiled to herself as she imagined her classmates faces when she wouldn't walk into class the next day. Hope Jones, the one that never skipped classes, but still managed to get more detentions than anyone else. Or was it okay to call herself Hope Mikaelson already?

Hope shook her head, no it was not.

She couldn't resist to feel a little bit surprised when she found Elijah inside the car as she got down from the staircase. Maybe she could trust him after all.

She got into the car and tossed her bag in the back of the car. "You did as I said."

"You sound surprised," he remarked before starting the car and driving off.

"That's because I kind of am," she honestly answered. "So how long will this road trip take?"

Elijah turned to her. "Road trip?"

"Yeah, or whatever you like to call it," she said. "I've never been on a road trip before."

Elijah chuckled and Hope let herself to smile so her dimples showed.

"About a day, depending on how many stops we make," Elijah told her. "Talking about making stops, I have to make a call when we get outside of New York."

Hope nodded before watching the clock on the screen right in front of her, she had never sat in a car this nice before. Her mom had sold their old car, to pay for some drugs she had taken for a while. It was only six in the afternoon, which meant they would be in New Orleans about the same time tomorrow.

Hope sighed as she leaned back in the leather seat, the view outside the window of buildings passing by made her sleepy. She closed her eyes only to rest for a moment, but found herself falling asleep.

* * *

**Elijah's POV:**

About three hours after Hope fell asleep Elijah pulled over by a small grocery shop to refuel the car and make the call he had talked about.

Hope somehow managed to surprise him, she refused to show herself scared or even a bit confused. She hadn't even ask any questions about him or her family. It had been fifteen years since he had seen her the last time. She had been almost two years old and about to get shipped off to someone else who would take care of her.

That thought still made him angry, seeing the place where she had grown up – in the slum, without any proper parents around. Klaus would be furious when he found out, he probably would seek Hope's adoptive parents one by one and kill them. Elijah himself had felt an impulse of anger as he had stopped in front of her home. But he had kept his nerves in place, mostly because he didn't want to scare Hope, but also because she didn't seem to mind the area she had grown up in.

After he had filled the car with fuel he parked it beside the grocery shop and stepped out of the car. Hope was still deeply asleep, with the beautiful face she had inherited by her mother facing the window. Hayley would be thrilled to finally meet her long-lost daughter.

It was hard to know who to call, Klaus was probably busy keeping Marcel from doing something he would regret, Hayley would get so thrilled that she wouldn't be able to listen to him. So that left him with one option.

"_Brother, I was wondering when to hear from you. How's business going?_" Rebekah answered. To the background of her voice it sounded like she was walking outside.

Elijah gazed back at his sleeping niece to make sure she hadn't moved before answering his baby sister. "Changed plans, Bekah."

"_What do you mean? Didn't Harry say-_"

"I found her, sister."

"_What?_"

"I found Hope."

"_Oh my god,_" Rebekah breathed. To the sound of her voice she had stopped walking. "_I don't believe it, how-_"

"She tried to steal my watch," Elijah chuckled.

"_She tried what? Oh that little ... I'm not going to say the word devil but she __is__ Nik's daughter._" Rebekah said. "_How is she? How did you get her with you anyway? You didn't compel her did you?_"

"She is fine, I'll tell you everything once I get back home with her. Could you do me a favor and tell Nik and Hayley about the news. I have to keep driving, we should reach New Orleans by the evening tomorrow."

"_Of course, oh my god I still can't believe this,_" Rebekah whispered more to herself than to Elijah.

"Neither can I, dear sister."

"_Have you told her about us? You know, what we are?_" Rebekah asked with sudden serious voice.

"No, I-" He froze in the middle of his sentence when he heard the car door open. Immediately he swung around to find Hope in the driver's seat instead of the one next to it.

"What are you doing?" he asked Hope with Rebekah still on the other side of the phone.

"I've never driven a car before and you have taken the car keys," Hope said disappointed. "Such a buzzkiller."

"Get out of there," he sighed shaking his head.

"Fine," Hope muttered.

"_What was that?_" Rebekah asked with irritated voice. "_Seriously, Elijah. If you lose her Nik and Hayley will kill you!_"

"I know, sister," Elijah said. "Now, go talk to our brother and Hayley, I've got everything under control here."

"_Right, like I'm supposed to believe that ... Bye._"

Elijah rolled his eyes but ended the call and put his phone back into his pocket. Hope leaned against the car with her hood on her head and her hands deep inside her jeans pockets.

"Who was that?" she asked at once Elijah looked up to meet her eyes.

"My sister," he answered.

Hope nodded before turning her attention toward the grocery shop and taking a couple of steps in its direction.

"And where do you think you're going?" Elijah asked. For some reason he felt tired now that she had woken up, it had been much easier when he had known that she was safely asleep.

"I'm hungry, I'll be right back."

After Elijah had insisted to give her money to pick herself something to eat, she had rushed inside the grocery store and came out of it a couple of minutes later with a bag in her hands. Then they could finally continue their way to Hope's new home.

After she had eaten her so-called food, which by the way were a bunch of candy and one sandwich with a bottle of Coke, Hope turned her gaze at Elijah and studied him for a moment.

"What is it?" he asked trying not to sound annoyed by her staring at him.

"How come you gave me up in the first place?"

Elijah didn't know how to react, he hadn't been ready for this question considering she hadn't asked him about it before. Sure he knew that she would ask it sooner or later, but not to him and definitely not now.

"We didn't have much of a choice, we didn't want to do it. It's complicated," he tried to explain hoping she wouldn't ask him more questions about that exact subject. Then again, maybe it would be better if he told her everything about vampires and werewolves before they arrived to New Orleans.

"How complicated?" Hope pushed. "Look, Elijah, I'm not a kid. I've taken care of myself ever since I was seven years old and my parents got a divorce. I know how to look after myself."

Elijah sighed and took a stronger grip around the wheel, he could break it right here and now. But instead of doing it, he took a deep breath and tried to relax. "Do you believe in supernatural creatures? Like vampires and werewolves?"

She raised her eyebrows without giving him an answer, so he took that as she did.

Then he started telling her about her parents, how Klaus and himself had lived for the past thousand years and how their mother had turned them into vampires, how their father had made Klaus suffer as a child and how it had turned him to the violent person he is. He told her about Klaus' obsession for becoming a hybrid and how he had managed to become one, how he had craved for becoming that supernatural being for a thousand years. He told her about their time in Mystic Falls and how they had come to New Orleans and how the witches had gotten them around their fingers because of Hayley's pregnancy. Their battles and their losses until Hope finally was born and had to be sent away for her own protection.

Hope sat quiet the whole time he was explaining to her, why everything her father had done had led them to their hard decision of finally giving her to Klaus' sister Rebekah.

"But as you were about to turn two, the witches got a hold on your existence and tried to find you," Elijah explained. "We saw no other choice than to send you away as far as possible, and it worked."

"What happened to the witches?" Hope spoke up for the first time in an hour.

"Klaus killed them," Elijah answered with hesitation. "When we finally had gotten the French Quarter under control and we were ready to bring you back home, we couldn't find you. We have been searching for you for over five years now." He made a pause to make sure she still understood what he was talking about. "We had a witch cast a cloaking spell over you, which also made it harder to find you. But I guess it most have worn out since I did find you."

Hope leaned back in her seat and nodded, speech less. Not many people had managed to get her to shut up, she always had something to say back.

"Family above all," Elijah added. "Always and forever."

They sat in quiet for a long time, it had already darkened outside and the time had passed midnight. Elijah found it odd that neither Klaus nor Hayley had called him, maybe Rebekah hadn't told them the good news yet. Or maybe she had been able to keep them calm and told them to leave Hope alone for a while.

Elijah on the other hand felt relieved, the part about her supernatural being had been covered, the part which he himself had thought would be the toughest. But it seemed like Hope could handle it pretty well, whether she would be able to forgive them or not was another unanswered question.

"Can you show me?" Hope suddenly asked. "Like your fangs or something? Vampires have fangs, don't they?"

The next second Elijah's face had turned from its usual firm and calm gaze to a monster's. His eyes got a darker shade, vanes appeared underneath his eyelids and fangs pointed out of his mouth. Hope couldn't keep herself from flinching.

Elijah turned his facial expression back to normal and tried not to laugh at her surprised look.

"Wow, that was amazing!" she exhaled. "Can you do that again?"

"No."

"Buzzkiller."

"You don't like it when people tell you no or what to do, am I right?" Elijah asked with a small grin on his face.

"Who does?" was her answer. "Besides, when my hybrid-supernatural-side-thing trigger, then no one can tell me what to do."

Elijah watched her satisfied face, it scared him. She was after all the original hybrid's daughter, who knew what kind of genes she had gotten from him. Hope might appear as a normal sweet girl, but Elijah didn't buy it. She had, just as Klaus and Hayley, grown up in the belief that no one loved her and that she was abandoned. He knew what kind of scars that could leave on a person, he only wished it hadn't gotten too far in Hope's case.

She soon fell asleep again, so Elijah kept on driving in silence with only the darkness that embraced him. He couldn't help but wonder what she had meant earlier, when she had said that she didn't have a mother.

Did she blame Hayley for what had happened to her? Or had she meant her adoptive mother? Elijah couldn't tell.

It didn't seem like Hope was too angry with her biological father, or did she decide not to show her emotions towards Klaus to him? He could have asked her about it, what she had meant, but he had been afraid that it would make her upset just like the last time.

Hope turned in her sleep to face the window with her mouth halfway open, Elijah smiled. She would finally be home. Hopefully it wouldn't be a mistake of him to bring her to New Orleans, because who knew what kind of trouble a teenager could bring?


	3. One Big Happy Family

Thank you so much for your kind reviews and for following/favorite this fanfiction! It really means a lot, please keep reading and reviewing so I know if I should continue or not ..

Enjoy! :)

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**Chapter 3 – One big happy family**

"Seriously? You can't call yourself a music fan if you only listen to classic music!" Hope argued and pointed a candy bar at Elijah.

"I assume you prefer ... what does kids call it these days ... oh yes, dubstep?" Elijah pointed out. "That's not music, that's people making noises."

"So? It's the best dance music ever," Hope stubbornly said. "But you're like a thousand years old, you have probably been on more concerts than anyone else."

"With the exception for my sister, she is more of the decade-to-decade kind of person", Elijah explained.

They had been going on talking for hours about music, which seemed like one of the few subjects that actually got Elijah exited. He had even told Hope that he played the piano and a little bit of violin. Hope herself had confessed that she had taken guitar lessons from youtube, which she then had to explain was a site on the internet where you could watch homemade videos and stuff. It had taken him a while to understand, but Hope thought he got a hold on it now.

"We're soon there," Elijah spoke up. "Are you nervous?"

She didn't know what to answer, a part of her was, but not because of meeting her real family – but because she was afraid they would find her disappointing. She knew how Elijah was, sort of. He was a man of honor and he wore a way too expensive suit. Hope was just a normal girl, without any money, well-worn clothes and dirty, white sneakers on her feet.

What if they expected someone who came from a nice house with parents who spoiled her away with gifts, jewellery's and other stuff?

"Maybe," she answered without looking at him. Her mood had switched from being happy and exited to unsure and judgmental on the count of a heartbeat. It had happened before, many times actually that her mood had switched within seconds.

One second she could be happy and talking without any kind of problem in her life, the next she could get mad and being near to actually kill someone. Not that she had ever tried to kill anyone or anything, but sometimes her mood scared her. It was like she couldn't control her emotions and anger.

They passed the sign with the words _Welcome To New Orleans_ on it and got greeted by a city filled with people. Although the summer break just had ended and people had gone back to school and their jobs, it didn't seem to affect the tourists or the people of New Orleans.

They drove in silence through the town, Hope found it very much different compared to New York. The buildings were lower, a bit older and with small boutiques in every corner. Hope wouldn't allow herself to admit it, but it kind of felt like home.

Elijah parked the car on the street as they arrived to the French Quarter, Hope didn't waste a second before getting out of the car and grabbing her backpack from the backseat.

A couple of kids rushed by on the other side of the road with their faces filled with laughter. A sting went through her stomach as she watch them disappear into a small alley. That could have been her.

"Are you ready?" Elijah asked. He had already crossed the street toward an opening in one of the old buildings. The French Quarters was the oldest part of the city and it didn't really surprise her that her biological family decided to live here. After all, they were over a thousand years old.

Hope nodded and followed him through a short tunnel before a big courtyard appeared in front of them. It had a fountain raising right before her and a huge balcony surrounding the yard a couple of feet from the ground. It all looked ancient in Hope's eyes since she was used to the latest of technology and buildings.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Elijah stated and took a couple of steps toward the fountain. "We call it for the compound, or the Abattoir, and the letter M you can see on the walls stands for Mikaelson."

"Okay," was her answer. She didn't know what else to say, it indeed was beautiful and different. It wasn't what she had imagined, though she hadn't really had time to imagine what it would look like, but this was beyond her imagination.

"There you are, finally. You have no idea how hard it was to keep those to paranoid parents away from their phones and it didn't make it better when I told them only two hours ago." A beautiful woman with icy blonde hair and pale skin walked down the stairs from the balcony while talking with an accent Hope hadn't heard much of in New York.

"Why didn't you tell them after I had called, Bekah?" Elijah questioned raising his eyebrows.

"Because, they would have slaughtered me. Which by the way might happen because Nik disappeared somewhere," the woman continued to talk. "He was talking about some stakes to run through my heart, but we both know that's not possible and he is only being dramatic."

Hope didn't know if she liked this woman or not, she obviously liked to talk. A lot, and didn't really seem to care to much about what other felt or thought. It reminded her of herself in some sort of way.

"Rebekah, would you like to say hello to your niece?" Elijah turned to Hope with one arm gesturing toward her. "This is Hope."

The blonde woman's light blue eyes found hers and she at once tipped over to her on her black heels she was wearing.

"You've grown so much, such a beautiful young lady," the woman said enthusiastic before dragging Hope into a hug.

She didn't know how to react, she wasn't much of a 'hugger', especially not from strangers. But she did her best not to show herself too uncomfortable, although she couldn't resist to breathe heavily out as the woman let go of her.

"I'm Rebekah, your father's sister," she introduced herself.

"Um ... it's nice to meet you, I guess," Hope said.

"Where is Hayley?" Elijah gave his sister a concerned look.

"Don't look at me like that, she is in the kitchen," Rebekah answered waving her hand in the air. Hope couldn't help herself not to laugh at her aunt, she was quite funny.

Elijah shook his head before walking up the stairs onto the balcony.

"You really do have my brother's eyes," Rebekah said. "Poor soul." She smiled. "Don't worry I'm only joking."

"Bekah! Where the bloody hell have you put the TV remote!" A guy who looked like a younger form of Elijah appeared on the other side of the balcony. His hair was a bit longer than Elijah's and his body more lean and athletic.

Hope turned her forehead into wrinkles, Elijah hadn't mentioned another family member than Rebekah, himself, Klaus and Hayley. Besides their other siblings who Elijah claimed were dead.

The young guy jumped down from the balcony like it was the easiest thing to do in the world. Hope still hadn't been able to process this whole supernatural thing.

"May I introduce myself, darling," he said while walking up to Hope and taking her hand in his, kissing it. "I'm Kol Mikaelson, the most good-looking and polite one in this family."

"Cut the crap, Kol," Rebekah said and pushed him away from Hope. "Don't mind him, he's just being an ass."

"Don't speak about yourself in that way, sister. It's not good for your self-confidence," Kol laughed. Rebekah gave him a I-will-kill you look, which made him laugh more.

"I thought you were dead," Hope said toward Kol.

"You sound disappointed," Kol said with hurt in voice.

"Our mother brought him back to life as a weapon to kill us, but as her powers were drained out of her, Kol happened to become back to normal and stayed that way," Rebekah explained.

"Now our dear parents are rutting in the basement with a witch controlling their cage," Kol said amused. "I really do sound like the devil sometimes, don't I?"

"Why don't you go see if you can find three sixes tattooed in the back of your neck in the mirror?" Rebekah suggested.

"Funny," Kol said rolling his eyes.

Hope couldn't do anything else but smile, was this really her family? They didn't seem too old either, Rebekah might be in her early twenties as for the same with Kol. This was the thing she had been missing for the last couple of years of her life, she couldn't believe how she ever had doubted them.

The sound of sobbing made her eyes gaze around finding a woman who reminded her of herself. It was like seeing yourself in the future, the same kind of hair, skin and almost the same height. Only the eyes and dimples were different, besides from the age difference.

Hope didn't know how to react, one part of her was thrilled that she finally got to meet her real mother, another part of her was furious because of her lying words written on the piece of paper in her pocket. Still she let herself get embraced by the woman claiming to be her mother and she actually hugged her back. She had never given anyone a hug before. Or at least what she could remember.

She knew Elijah was watching her every movement, as if he was prepared for some sort of breakdown coming from her. He knew she had said that she didn't have a mother, but did he really know what she had meant with her choice of words?

"I've missed you so much," Hayley said as she let go of Hope to watch her face. "You have grown so much, I'm so sorry we had to let you go. So sorry."

Hope breathed in, what was she supposed to say? That everything was okay? Because it wasn't, she couldn't forgive them even though she knew why they had done it. It broke her heart thinking about it, it had done it every single day for the last couple of years. You don't just forget a feeling like that.

Hope wouldn't allow herself to cry, even though her crying mother didn't make it better. Her eyes were filled with tears and it didn't seem to stop. Why couldn't Hayley just stop crying for god's sake!

"I-" she couldn't find the right words in that moment, everything in her brain was a big blur. She couldn't think, speak or even move.

"Why don't we all go inside? I believe Hope is tired after our trip," Elijah spoke up as she was giving him helpless looks.

At that Hope could finally breathe out again, she wasn't really tired, but she could use some time alone to think. All of this was overwhelming for her, it was too much for her to bear at the moment. So much new people, new city and all these supernatural things didn't make it better.

Elijah led the way upstairs and through a glass door which led to a huge living room. On the right there were a staircase to the highest level of the house and a double door to the kitchen on the same wall.

"We were in a hurry to make your room since Rebekah decided not to tell us about your arrival before two hours ago," Hayley said. She wiped her tears off her cheeks and smiled at Hope.

"It's okay," Hope forced herself to say even though her mouth were dry as if she had been walking in the desert.

"Allow me to show you the way," Elijah offered. Before anyone had a chance to say otherwise, he had taken a grip around Hope's shoulders and pushed her up the stairs. She could feel her family member's gazes in her back as she walked.

A long corridor appeared as they had climbed the stairs to the top. A bunch of doors were placed on either side of the corridor with windows facing the street at the end.

"This way," Elijah said leading her to the left. They walked past five doors before he finally stopped and opened a light wooden door with a golden handle.

The room was bigger than the kitchen slash living room the apartment she had lived in had. A huge bed were pushed against the wall with a bedside table next to it with a lamp on. A big mirror were placed on the same wall as another door to the right. There were also a wardrobe, a desk and a chair, all in the shade of dark brown.

"Looks like my sister was eager to design this room," Elijah pointed out as he walked to the window and gazed outside. "She will probably continue this renovation later."

"It's fine," Hope said. She dropped her bag on the chair behind the bed before throwing herself at the covers. "That was just ... intense."

Elijah walked over the room and moved her bag from the chair so he could sit down on it. Somehow it felt good to have someone to talk to, if Sam was here she would talk to him about it. That thought also reminded her that he had no clue of where she was, he was probably worried sick because she hadn't been at school.

"It will get easier," Elijah promised. "It takes time."

"It's just weird, I don't remember you or Rebekah. But it still feels like I know you," Hope tried to explain. "I remembered your voice when we met in Central Park, but I don't know why."

Elijah stayed quiet for a moment, leaning his head on the tip of his fingers. "As a baby, you can't remember anything before the age of three. The last time I saw you were when you were two years old and about to be sent off to another state. It might be possible that you remember sounds, but I am not too sure on that theory."

Hope nodded and stared at the white ceiling. Was it true, the words he said that she might remember something about them? Small details that was stuck inside her head, she couldn't remember any words that they had said. Only the sound of their voices.

"May I ask you," Elijah started with hesitation. He leaned forward in the chair avoiding eye contact with her, "what you meant when you said that you have no mother?"

Hope swallowed, she knew that if she told him, he would tell Hayley and it would break her heart. But why should she care about her feelings anyway? Sure Hayley was her mother, but mothers don't abandon their children if they truly loves them.

"I will leave you to rest," Elijah said when she didn't answer. He got up and switched of the lights as he closed the door behind him. Hope rolled over so she was face to face with the wall before she closed her eyes and tried not to think.

It would be a long week.

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**Elijah's POV:**

"She hates me," Hayley exclaimed with broken voice. "She wouldn't even look at me. My baby girl hates me!"

Kol, who was happy that he had found the TV remote, rolled his eyes and turned up the sound on the TV, while Rebekah tried to comfort the grieving mother.

"She needs time to let it all sink in," she tried to explain. "She'll come around, just wait and see. This is a lot for her, she probably don't even know how she feels."

Elijah shook his head where he sat in the armchair in the living room. "Kol, would you mind turning the TV down?"

"Yes."

"Kol!"

"Fine," he said as he turned off the TV. "If you really think that will help. I on the other hand am going to get a drink." With that he stood up and exited the living room.

"There is something going on in that child's head," Elijah told them with the calm voice of his. "She is worried about something and I believe it has something to do with you, Hayley."

"We are a bunch of strangers in her eyes," Rebekah said. "And to be honest I don't blame her for it, she has been raised in a complete different world and this must be too much for her."

"She didn't seem to mind when I told her all about our family, about how our mother turned us into vampires and our brother's determination to become a hybrid. More like she was fascinated about it, to be honest."

"You told her everything?" Rebekah asked raising her eyebrows in disagreement. "Seriously Elijah? Now she is probably scared to face us."

"No, the other way around, sister. She seemed to take it rather well."

"I don't believe it."

"Believe it or not, but I think her lack of enthusiasm has something to do with her growing up in the slumber," Elijah slowly told them. He knew he should keep it from them longer, because the reaction he waited from them wasn't anything he wanted to face. Luckily for him, Nik wasn't attending this meeting.

"What?" Hayley met his eyes with surprise. "I thought the family we gave her to lived in a huge house on the countryside."

"So did I, but she asked me to stop at their apartment before heading to New Orleans. It looked like she had been raised by herself."

"You've got to be kidding me," Rebekah said with anger filling her whole body. "We should never had sent her away."

"We had no other choice," Hayley whispered. "The witches were on your doorstep as she was taken away."

"It took us a decade to built this city up for her to be safe," Elijah spoke. "I am not letting her go without a fight."

"Don't be ridiculous, brother," Rebekah said. She smiled at him with a sad face. "None of us are."

Elijah nodded, he knew he could count on his family, but he was worried about Hayley. She had been the one to search for Hope the most, and she was the one who got the biggest blame from her own daughter. It didn't seem fair, although Elijah couldn't imagine it any other way.

Of course it would take time before Hope could accept what happened, he knew that very well. The only thing remaining now was to see how she would react with Nik, which was beyond Elijah's imagination to have any clue on.

"Good," he said. "Hayley, I know this will be hard for you to understand now that you have her back. But I think it's best if you lay low for a while."

That comment made the upset mother to stare at him with glowing eyes. "What!"

"Hope obviously has something that is bothering her when it comes to you," Elijah explained. "She said to me yesterday that she didn't have a mother."

He was careful with the words that he spoke because of Hayley's temper, when she got mad or hurt then no one wanted to be in her company. But instead of raging out, she leaned back in the sofa with heavy breaths.

"I understand," she said with a broken voice.

Rebekah on the other hand wasn't too pleased with the news he had given them. She jumped to her feet and searched with her gaze for something to break.

"Bekah, calm down," he said. "I am sure Hope will tell us what's on her mind."

"Are you serious, Elijah?" Rebekah shouted. "She is Nik's daughter, she won't speak to either of us! She will probably kill someone, or even worse, herself!"

"Well thank you, dear sister, for the strong belief in me."

Elijah closed his eyes for a moment when Klaus walked in to the living room, with an angry expression and his fists ready to punch something or someone. Nik took another step inside the room and threw his hands in the air.

"No other words to say to me while your at it?" he asked raising his eyebrows. "How disappointing, I did expect more of you, Bekah. Then again, you did keep a secret from me even though I thought this family were done with secrets."

He let his arms down and took yet another step toward his sister. "Now, where is my daughter?"

"She is upstairs, sleeping," Elijah sighed with the bravery to meet his brother's look. It had been a while since Nik was in a good mood, Elijah was perfectly aware of why and he wished, now when Hope was back that he would change.

Rebekah sat back down on the couch and crossed her arms over her chest.

"How is she?" Nik then asked, his voice lighter, smoother and somewhat relieved. Just like everyone else in this room, Niklaus had been worried about where Hope had been. Walking around in this house imagining what could have happened to her and hoping for the best, expecting the worst. They all with the same thought on their mind as they did, _what if something happened to her._

They had all had made her a promise, to be there for her no matter what and still they had betrayed her for the last fifteen years. They had struggled with the truth, looked in each others eyes every day without anything to say. And not one single second of everyday had anyone of them quit hoping to find her, she was their reason to breathe. Their reason to live. Their reason to hope for something better. She was their savior and now it was their turn to save her.

"Beautiful," Rebekah answered when no one else did. Her voice cracking. "She looks just like her mother, except for the eyes of course, they're all yours, Nik."

The father of the child sleeping up stairs smiled and Elijah found himself smiling with him. It was a nice feeling, to know that the worry about her safety now wasn't as intense as before.

"How did you find her?" Hayley asked. She was tired, Elijah could see it in her eyes as she leaned her head against her hand.

"She found _me_ actually, in Central Park, she stole my watch," he told them smiling at the memory. "Or she _tried_ to steal it."

"I'm not surprised considering the place where she grew up. I bet her adoptive parents didn't care for her at all," Rebekah stated without really thinking about it.

Of course Nik's face changed at once and before anyone knew about it he had turned around walking toward the door. Elijah immediately reacted to rush past him making him stop in front of him, just as he had done with Nik's daughter the day before.

"Move, Elijah, before I put a dagger through your heart."

"Niklaus, listen to me," Elijah said calmly obviously ignoring Nik's usual threats. "I am just as angry as you for hearing these news, but I'm asking you to wait. We don't know the reason for her trying to steal my watch or why she was raised in the slum. Before we make any impulsive decisions, we should think this through."

Nik stayed silent for a moment, considering the words coming out of Elijah's mouth before taking a step back.

"Fine, but if there is any proof they mistreated her then I _will_ kill them." With those words Niklaus walked past him and rushed up the stairs toward his daughter's bedroom.

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Sooo, there you go ... Was it good? Bad? Share your thoughts! The meeting between Hope and Niklaus will occur in the next chapter, that's a promise!

Have a great weekend btw! :)


	4. Littlest Wolf

Okay, so this chapter is a bit wierd, emotional and boring. So sorry about that, I tried to make it somehow reliable, but I might have screwed it up a bit. Hopefully you guys will continue to read anyway and that the upcoming chapters are better than this one ... Anyways, let me know what you think! Enjoy!

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**Chapter 4 – Littlest wolf**

**Klaus' POV:**

Niklaus found himself sitting on the chair next to his daughter's bed the whole night through. He had watched her angelic face for hours without understanding that it was _his_ daughter lying there in deep slumber. He had never seen anything more fascinating than the living creature in front of him.

Never before had he felt so caring about anything for his thousand years on this earth. The fifteen years without her had felt like spending every second in hell, not even the killing spree of the witches, werewolves and vampires had satisfied him.

It had taken him a lot of strength not to continue killing people in this town, every single person who crossed his path had been near death. To keep his mind in place he had started looking for Hope in every city near New Orleans. He had sought every single witch with the capability of finding people, but not even them had been able to help him. The seeking of his long lost daughter had almost made him gone mad.

On top of it all he had made a kill he almost regretted, but the feeling of being betrayed had won over him. Marcel's girlfriend Cami had been the one to tell the witches about the fact that Hope still was alive fifteen years ago. At first he didn't believe it, before she had admitted it to his face. He had no other choice than to take her life with his own hands.

Marcel had been devastated by the loss of his girlfriend, but Klaus didn't care. Cami had put his most precious being in this world in danger. Though he didn't know how she had found out about Hope still being alive, but his guess was that she had overheard his and Elijah's talk about Hope staying with Rebekah in Chicago.

Klaus had decided to give Marcel's memory of Hope back right after they had sent her away for adoption, he had become angry with Klaus for killing Cami, but still understanding. Three years later he had been able to forgive him and moved on.

Klaus sighed and leaned back in the armchair, it was still dark outside and he could hear Elijah, Rebekah and Hayley discussing what they would do with Hope's future. He didn't really mind them doing it without him, he would have his opinion heard later anyway.

At the moment, they were discussing whether to send her to school, and if they did then which one. Elijah had apparently called her old school in New York and got a hold on her latest report card. It wasn't bad, she obviously was a smart girl after all.

The hours passed by in a heartbeat. Suddenly he could hear Hayley getting up and walking down to the kitchen after a couple of hours in slumber. Only a moment afterwards he could sense his sister joining the mother of his child. Elijah and Kol had already disappeared from the house earlier in the morning.

"Hello there, littlest wolf," Nik said leaning onto his knees with his elbows. Hope opened her eyes completely and looked confusingly around.

"Wha- ..." she started before she finally realized he was there. "Elijah mentioned you were creepy."

Niklaus chuckled. "Well, my noble brother always keeps his word."

There had been situations when he had been nervous, though he didn't remember most of them. His way of dealing with things that scared him was to keep his mind on another place before he eventually forgot about it. Sometimes the memories came back, sometimes not.

Hope sat up in the bed and put her hood over her head before giving him a tired look. "So, you're Klaus, or Nik or whatever. Elijah told me a lot about you."

"All bad I presume."

She smiled, causing small dimples appear in her cheeks. Klaus couldn't resist to smile with her, it had been a while since he actually meant a smile.

"You've got that one right."

"Well come on then sweetheart, before the paranoid sister of mine decides to hire a marching band to get you out of bed," he said in a hurry and got up on his feet.

Hope sighed but stood up right after him, showing her hands down her pockets. Klaus couldn't resist the impulse of looking over his shoulder at her when he heard her heart stop inside her chest.

"Something bothering you, love?" he asked turning around to face her. It was obvious she had something on her mind, the other night Klaus had managed to overhear Elijah's speech about her being anxious about something. Whatever it was they would work it out together, he had made her a promise that she would come back to him one day, and now when she had, he wouldn't let her go.

"No, nothing," Hope said shaking her head. Klaus knew she was lying, he could hear her heart beat inside her chest. Anger filled him, his own daughter couldn't tell him the truth. He had promised himself not to become his worst nightmare – his own father, but he had no idea how to raise his already teenaged daughter.

It had been much more simple with Marcel, he had been so thankful for Klaus saving his life in such a young age that Klaus' way of raising him like a son had been easier than he thought it would.

"You're lying," he simple announced. "I can hear your heartbeat inside your chest."

Hope looked into his eyes, they weren't surprised, not even the least bit of scared. They were independent, secure and somewhat proud.

"Well, sucks to be you then." With those words Hope gave him a intense gaze before walking past him and running down the stairs.

Klaus took a deep breath, stopping himself to do or say something he would regret. It took him a lot of self-control to do so, if this continued, he would kill half of the city within a week.

When Rebekah had told him about Hope's arrival he had been thrilled to finally meet her, even a bit nervous. But now he felt tired, like it didn't really matter when Hope didn't even try to adjust. Of course his siblings were right as they said it would take time, but Klaus wasn't a patient man.

As he had got his anger covered again he walked down the stairs to the kitchen, where he found Hayley and Rebekah sitting by the dinner table. They were talking with low whispers while sipping their morning coffee.

"Is Hope still sleeping?" Hayley asked.

"She was, until she woke up and decided to run off," Klaus muttered without showing himself to care.

"She did _what_? No offence to the two of you, but we need some rules. I know it is her first day here, but she can't just run around like it's a playground," Rebekah stated.

"You mean like curfew? She would hate us," Hayley said once again making her voice break. "This was not what I expected."

Klaus shook his head. "I will handle this."

* * *

**Hope's POV:**

She didn't know what to expect, every time she tried to be a better person she failed. Her father probably hated her now for running off like that, she wasn't a polite girl. She never had been and probably never would be.

She didn't deserve the love they wanted to give her, after all that she had done in her past she didn't even deserve to live. But the thought of killing herself would be more selfish than anything else. A part of her was able to feel empathy and it was about to eat her up alive.

The feeling that her mother must have felt when Hope rejected her, she felt sad for Hayley but she couldn't forgive her after her broken promise. If they truly believed she would be a sweet girl like some of the other girls in her age could be, then they were wrong. Maybe if she had grown up in a place with parents that actually cared for her she would be able to give them some justice.

Hope found herself sitting on top of a roof in the French Quarter not long away from the compound. She looked down at the people below her, none of them aware of the supernatural creatures living among them. She had thought about it through the night, what it would feel like to trigger her hybrid side. Would she become stronger? More self-secure? Probably.

She saw her father walking on the other side of the street, a sudden impulse told her to hide, but she managed to hold her head cold and stay with her legs hanging over the ceiling facing the street. Of course it didn't take him long to find her, he was a original hybrid after all.

He was a peculiar man, she thought. After so much hatred from his father he had suffered from as a kid, but a thousand years later, he still couldn't get over it. Did he really feel that much pity about himself?

Her father sat down beside her on the roof without a clue on his delicate, yet masculine, face what he was thinking about. He had curled light-blonde hair and pearl-white skin, his eyes were the same as hers, light blue. His casual clothing consisting jeans, a shirt and a black leather jacket were not too different from her own.

"Got a thing for higher ground?" he asked once he had sat down.

"I like the view, it makes me feel more powerful to be able to see everything," she answered without hesitation. "They sent you to talk me into sense, didn't they?"

Klaus chuckled and clasped his hands in his knees. "My brother told me the night you were born and we had to rush after the witches that had taken you that it was my fault you had been abducted."

Hope wrinkled her forehead and allowed herself to look at Niklaus for the first time he had climbed the building to sit next to her. Elijah hadn't told her about that, only that Rebekah had been the one to take care of her.

"He said that all of this – the witches hunting you, the werewolves and vampires revolting – it all was because of my scheming, because of all the enemies I had made every single day of my miserable life. And if the result I had expected would be your birth to be turned into a happy life? That your mother would be alive to know you? That we all would live together and thrive as a family?" Klaus told her with a silent voice. "Elijah said that you were our _hope_, even though I told him that was his fantasies to live up to and not mine, he said that you were _our_ family's hope."

Hope stayed silent, not able to look into his eyes. She could never have imagined what kind of world they were living in, she wasn't used to being hunted by witches and having supernatural creatures hiding around in every corner. That was _their_ world, not hers.

"And even now, when we sit here fifteen years after our loss of you, I can remember every single word he said as it was told to me yesterday," Klaus continued. "You have no idea how much we all have been thought to make it safe for you. How much we have sacrificed because of you. How many people have been after you only because of _me_. So if there is someone to blame, someone to be angry at – a target – then it's me you should turn to."

Hope took a deep breath, trying to get it all to sink in. She felt like crying, but she didn't want her father to see her as a weak person. If what Klaus told her was true, that it was because of her it all had been sacrificed and because of her all these people had been killed, then she didn't know how to give it all back to them. In her eyes everything was simple, a family who had abandoned their child. But in their eyes it was more than that, it was a rescue. They had _saved_ her, not to other way around.

"Was it worth it?" she asked once she got her voice back. "Killing these people only to keep me safe?"

Klaus smiled at her. "Every single one of them, you are after all my littlest wolf."

Hope watched some kids in her own age walk across the street, one of the guys had just made a joke which made the other ones laugh. She had never been good at making friends, especially not with girls, they were too emotional and dramatic for her. But still she couldn't help but feel a bit lonely as she saw them walking together toward the city.

"You can't really blame me for not understanding how much effort you all have done to save me, because I have no idea what kind of things witches and other creatures can do," Hope said. "I do understand that I'm some sort of a miracle baby or something, but it still doesn't seem right in my mind. I guess time will tell, right?"

"I'm sure it will, sweetheart," Klaus nodded. "But I still have to ask you why you did lie to me this morning."

At once Hope stared at him and put her walls back up, they might have covered one part of why she had been raised by herself, but that didn't mean she would just give all of her secrets and thoughts up. She wasn't ready to tell them, or maybe she was just afraid they would get mad at her. Although she did quite enjoy getting into trouble, it got her the attention she needed.

She got up on her feet and started to walk across the roof toward the ladder on the other side, but of course Klaus was faster than her and immediately stood in her way.

"Not so fast, we're not finished," he said. Hope could hear in his voice that he was impatient, Elijah had told her about his temper and that it was nothing to play with. Hope herself knew exactly what Elijah had meant, considering she had the same temper herself.

"I believe we are," she answered. "Now move."

She could read in his eyes the anger which was filling him, he probably had a debate inside his head what he should do about her manners.

"Not this time," he finally said after what felt like a lifetime of silence. "We're going back to the compound."

"We will do _what_?" Well at least that did surprise her.

As did it for Kol, who didn't understand his participation in this meeting when Klaus and Hope had found their way back to the living room. The long walk from the rooftop Hope had hidden out on had felt even worse than actually arriving to the compound. Klaus hadn't said a word to her even though she had complained the whole way.

"If this is about the whiskey that disappeared last week then it was not me who had anything to do with it!" Kol announced throwing his hands up in the air.

"No, Kol, it has not," Elijah sighed.

"Oh ... then why am I here?"

Hope rolled her eyes and leaned back in the armchair, she felt stuck. With Elijah blocking the only exit from the living room, Rebekah leaning against the stairs and her mother sitting on the couch in front of her. Niklaus had walked past her and sat down on the last remaining couch in the room.

Hope thought the thing that surprised the people in the room the most was the fact that it had been Klaus' idea to bring the whole family together. They were obviously not used to this behavior.

"Because, this is family business, brother," Rebekah told him.

"Then how come Marcel isn't here?" Kol continued to question this meeting.

"Just shut up, Kol", Klaus muttered with irritation in his voice.

"Fine," Kol answered with the same sound on his voice as his older brother.

Elijah gazed over all of the people in the room before taking a step forward. "So, this is obviously not working out as we all thought it would."

Hope couldn't handle it, what had they expected? A miracle teenager? No one in her age, or at least a very small amount of people, were acting like perfect children. Hope was definitely not one of them, she had her own thoughts and dared to show her emotions. If they couldn't handle it, then they could all go to hell.

"Look," she begun to speak with loud voice to make herself clear that she wasn't kidding. "I might not be who you expected and I don't blame any of you for that. But you can't honestly think that I would be the same person you all knew fifteen years ago. I've lived in another city with a lot of other people and adoptive parents who didn't give a crap about me. So don't think for a second that I will just be fine about all _this_," she took a pause to make a gesture around her, "because I'm not and I probably won't be for a while. But that doesn't mean that I will give up on anything. I am _not_ a quitter!"

They all stayed silent as she spoke, she didn't know where the courage had come from or what made her feel so strongly about trying all the sudden. She just knew that the words that were coming out of her mouth actually had a meaning, for the first time in her life she had made a statement without hesitation or having second thoughts.

"And if it all comes back to this," she said with a low voice as she pulled out the paper from her pocket and unfolded it, "then I've got nothing more to say than I'm disappointed and hurt because of the lies written on this paper."

It was like everyone in the room had stopped breathing when she unfolded the letter from Hayley, no one of them had seen it before besides Rebekah and Hayley. And not even them did recognize it because of the bad shape it was in.

Hope took a deep breath before she started to read the words written in the letter, tears about to fall down her cheeks as she did. The sobbing from her mother were like knives driven through her heart.

When she finished reading she looked up, took a deep breath so she wouldn't cry with her mother and started to explain: "In this letter you gave me three promises, to have a safe home, someone to tell me that they love me everyday and someone who would fight for me. But you broke that promises the same moment you decided to give me away and it broke me." Hope had to look away for a moment, gazing over the room to inhale the other family member's reactions.

Rebekah had tears in her eyes, with her arms hugging her legs. Kol for once actually had stopped his complaining and listened with wide eyes, Elijah stood as the majestic person he was and tried to think a logic solution to the problems while Klaus sat back with a brooding look on his face.

"And I just want to say," Hope continued, her voice breaking. "That I forgive you, mother."

It all happened so fast, they all started to breath again as she spoke that last sentence. Hayley rushed over to embrace her daughter for a second time and Hope allowed herself to cry for the first time in many years. Rebekah busted out in tears too, getting herself comforted by Elijah. Kol looked utterly confuced while Klaus did his best not to cry too, although he did smile like a fool.

Hope didn't know where her forgiveness had come from, she didn't easily forgive people in general for anything. But she saw her part in this family and it wouldn't work if she didn't stand up and let herself forgive the woman who had given birth to her. Hayley was after all her beloved mother. It had been _her_ sacrifice for this family.

"Wait, what does this now mean? That all our problems will just fade away?" Kol asked once Hope had made herself comfortable in her mother's lap.

"Kol," Rebekah said as a warning.

"No he is right," Elijah said who had taken Hope's place in the armchair. "We still have a beautiful teenager to raise and for what I have been able to summarize, it won't be easy."

Hope shook her head with a wide smile, she might have forgiven them but never in hell that it would change her in any kind of way.

"Well, obviously Hope is going back to school," Elijah said and hurried to continue as Hope was about to start arguing. "Because you're only sixteen and you need something normal in your life."

"Fine," she muttered. "But I'm not wearing some sort of uniform!"

Klaus chuckled. "Looks like the littlest wolf is determined."

"What about boys?" Kol laughed. "There's gonna be boys at her school, what are you planning to do, Nik? Kill everyone of them?"

Klaus, who seemed have forgotten that part of the term going-to-school, at once stopped smiling and turned toward his baby brother.

"Kol, don't be such a jerk," Rebekah said before giving Hope a wink. "Hope is probably going to be the most popular girl in school."

Klaus' gaze seemed to get even more darker the further they went on the subject. "No boys."

"Oh yeah?" Hope teased. "We'll see about that."

Klaus gave her one of his warning looks, like he really thought that would scare her not to talk to boys. If she wanted to talk to a boy then she did it, end of story.

"How about her ability to use magic? And her hybrid side?" Hayley asked once Hope climbed down from her lap and sat down next to her mother in the couch instead. She had had enough familyspirit for one day.

"We're still working on that," Klaus said. "I might have a witch reliable enough to let Hope get trained in magic."

"What's wrong with the one who is keeping our parents from escaping from the basement?" Kol asked.

"She is busy enough," Klaus answered.

Hope tried not to become mad because they didn't seem to care about her opinion in the matter, but she was actually quite upset because they hadn't asked her. She was almost seventeen and was able to stand for her own choices, hadn't she made that clear already?

"How about the hybrid thing then?" she hurried to ask before anyone had a chance to say anything else. "How will I trigger it?"

Klaus was probably the only one in the room who got as exited as Hope sounded when she said it. The rest of them, with the exception for Kol who looked bored, exchanged concerned looks with each other.

"Well ... "

"That's something we will discuss later," Elijah cut Klaus off. Klaus didn't seem too pleased with his brother's way of shutting him up, but he stayed silent after he had given Hope a I-will-tell-you-later look.

"Are we done now?" Kol asked. No one had paid attention to the wannabe adult who had found a bottle of whiskey on the table behind the couch. He seemed slightly drunk, but not enough to fall to sleep as Hope's adoptive mother used to do.

"Yes, boozie," Rebekah sighed. Kol gave her thumbs-up before walking out of the living room.

Hope and Hayley ended up talking for hours about everything, sometimes Rebekah or Elijah joined their conversations if they happened to pass the living room. Klaus had disappeared to try to get a hold on a witch outside the city, while Elijah later went to some private schools in the neighbourhood to find the best choice for Hope.

After Hope had showered and gotten something to eat and Hayley had gone to get her own kind of meal, Rebekah took her shopping. Hope wasn't much for the shopping thing, she only wore clothes that she found comfortable, which was jeans, t-shirts and hoodies with sneakers. Rebekah wasn't too keen on her look on fashion, but didn't argue about her choice of buying.

But as it came down to designing her new room, she definitely wanted to have a part in it. They decided to buy some paint to make the walls her way of wanting it, a new bed, desk, computer and other stuff Rebekah claimed she needed.

Hope didn't bother to complain for the things her aunt bought her, of course with Nik's credit card since she had taken it before he had gone out of town, she was only happy that she didn't have to sleep on the floor anymore.


	5. Bridgediving and Fairy Tales

Thank you guys so much for the comments, for following and favorite! I never thought this story would get this much followers, so thank you!

It really means a lot, _but_ I would appreciate some more reviews though ... So _please_ leave a comment after you've read this chapter to let me know what you think! :)

* * *

**Chapter 5 – Bridgediving and Fairy tales**

It had taken a while before Hope's father finally had decided to help out with emptying her bedroom with stuff so she could start painting the walls. She had insisted on doing the painting herself, even though Rebekah had tried to make herself useful. But she wanted to do it herself, because she believed it would be best if she did so.

It took her most of the weekend to finish her room, she painted two of the walls black, one fully white and the last one without neither windows nor doors, she painted a huge picture of a city at night.

Rebekah had told her a fairytale which she also had told to Hope as a baby, it had been stuck in her head ever since and Hope couldn't just let the words of that story go to waste.

So she decided to paint the words of the fairytale on the white wall:

_Once upon a time, there was a majestic king. _

_He was blessed with a beautiful baby daughter for whom he wished only peace. _

_Still, the king had demons who pursued him. There was a ruthless beast who wanted to take the kingdom for her own. _

_Armed with a pack of untamed creatures, she drove all the other magical beings from the land. _

_And there was a wicked sorcerer with enchanted stones that weakened the king every full moon._

_ Seeing the shadows his enemies caused upon his home, the king was driven to send his beloved princess away, convincing all who remain that she was forever lost._

She was just about to finish the room two nights later when everyone else had gone to sleep, or when she thought everyone had gone to sleep.

"Quite an artist, aren't you?" Klaus said as he entered her room. She was just about to finish the last word of the fairytale.

"I guess," she shrugged. "Why aren't you asleep like everyone else?"

"I was just about to ask you the same question," Klaus replied with a grin before he started to read the words written on the wall. "Fairy tales?"

"Bekah told it to me," Hope explained. "She used to tell it before I went to sleep as a baby."

He didn't answer, instead his gaze went over to the painting of the city. Hope sighed before she started to pick up the used brushes and empty buckets from the floor.

"Aren't you curious?" Klaus asked as she was about to exit the room. "About the hybrid part of yours?"

"Of course I am," Hope immediately answered. "But every time I try talking about it, Elijah shut me off."

"Elijah isn't here at the moment, is he love?" He raised his eyebrows and sat down on the armchair she had in her room. Hope put down the buckets of paint outside the door before turning toward her father.

"Tell me."

"It's simple," Klaus begun with a mysterious smile on his face. "Normal werewolves has to kill someone before their gene is activated, while vampires has to die with a vampire's blood in its system and then drink human blood."

"And what do I have to do? Both?"

"Not quite, you have to drain a human from its blood until he dies."

Hope didn't know how to react, she had never killed anyone in her life before, but her craving for feeling something unbelievable was about to win over her conscience. All of her family members had done it, killed people, and none of them seemed to regret that much of it. Especially not her father.

"That's it?" she asked with full confidence.

Klaus nodded. "That's it, sweetheart."

"Let's do it."

* * *

"I won't do it."

"Come on, you can do this, love."

"No, I won't!"

"Hope," Klaus sighed getting impatient. He had parked across the street from the private school she was about to attend. It looked so different compared to the one back in New York, the students looked so ... engaged to get to school and almost happy. Even the teachers seemed to care. "I know you can do this and if someone has anything against you I will break that person's neck."

"Sounds cool," Hope joked. "Can't you do that now?"

Klaus shook his head with a wide smile on his face. "Get out of the car."

"Fine, buzzkiller," Hope muttered before opening the door and stepping out. She tossed her new backpack over her shoulder before looking back into her father's eyes. "You promise to come after me if I call, right?"

"Yes, sweetheart, I promise. Now go, you're running late," Klaus said. He could be quite human if he wanted to, he had even helped her decorate the rest of her room yesterday and insisted to be the one to drive her to her first day of school.

Hope rolled her eyes before slamming the door shut and walking over the street toward the huge, white building the kids called school. Compared to her old school with only about one hounded students, this was huge.

Since Hope was about to turn seventeen in two months, she was a junior, so she could comfort herself by thinking she only had to be there two more years.

"Nice car." Hope spun around to meet the eyes of a short girl with way too much make-up covering her face. Somehow she reminded a bit of Rebekah, with her long blonde hair and the way she was looking at Hope. Like she didn't know how to react on Hope's way of clothing and appearance.

"Thanks," Hope answered continuing walking when the girl started to walk beside her.

"Your boyfriend's?"

"No, um .. " she didn't know what to call Klaus. Her dad? That he was, but it sounded wrong to say it out loud. "Actually it was my father."

"That young?" The girl said in surprise. "Wow, he must have been _very _young when he got you."

Hope held back a chuckle, if this girl only knew how old Klaus really was.

"Yeah," Hope said.

"I'm Summer Adams," the girl announced with a wide smile. "You're new here, right?"

"Yeah, I am."

"And your name is?"

"Hope," she said. "Hope Mikaelson."

When they entered the school, a long hallway filled with lockers on both sides of the walls appeared, different signs were placed everywhere so no one would get lost. Hope already felt like she was on another planet.

"If you're looking for the expedition, it's that way", Summer said pointing to the left. "Just follow the corridor and turn right when you hit the wall."

"Thanks. Again," Hope said.

"No problem." Summer smiled before running off to a group giggling girls standing beside the lockers. Hope didn't bother to look at them, instead she turned around and walked toward the expedition.

It wasn't hard to find it and soon after she had, she got her schedule and a map where to find her classes. It was a nightmare, why did Elijah insist on her going to school? Wasn't it a problem enough with the witches, her grandparents locked in the basement and all those kind of stuff? No, she had to do something they thought were _normal_.

Her first class was math, which made her think about mr Cole. He was probably thrilled when she wasn't attending his classes anymore, Hope knew she was.

She hurried through the hallways so she wouldn't be late for class, because if she knew this school right, then the teachers probably would make her introduce herself in front of the rest of the students. And that was something she really wanted to avoid.

It wasn't hard to find the right classroom, although the map she had was useless, but she overheard some kids talk about the class so she followed them to the third floor.

"Hope! Over here!" Summer called from her seat way back in the classroom as Hope entered it. She actually felt relieved that someone knew her name. In her old school it had been simple, everyone knew her and no one dared to stand up against her. Here, no one knew her and everyone stared at her when she made her way back in the class.

"You can sit here," Summer said pointing at the desk in front of hers. "This is Trip." A blonde guy with his hair falling down his blue eyes, sweet face and well-trained body, smiled at Hope when Summer introduced him. "That's Sly." The guy sitting next to Trip was a brown-haired, tall person with chocolate-brown eyes. "And Bradin." The guy next to her was thin with pale white skin, black, messy hair and freckles.

"Guys, this is Hope," Summer said making a gesture toward her. "She's new here."

"Couldn't tell," Sly joked. "Nice to meet you. Summer mentioned you have a nice car."

"Her dad's car," Summer corrected him. "Who also looked kind of hot."

Hope stared at Summer, who looked more pleased than ashamed by her comment.

"What?" she asked clearly not understanding why Hope was in slight shock. "Hot dad fantasies is nothing to be ashamed of."

"Right," Trip said. "But that doesn't make you less weird."

He leaned forward onto his elbows while playing with a pen with his fingers.

"Wait, wasn't your last name Mikaelson?" Bradin asked. "Like the Mikaelson's who lives in the French Quarters?"

"Yeah, why?" Hope asked.

"I thought you were dead. Don't get this the wrong way, but my mom told me that a baby named Hope Mikaelson died about seventeen years ago when all these people died in the French Quarters."

All of their eyes laid at Hope, who didn't know how to react. Hayley had told her about the memorial and that they had mourned for her in public so the witches would believe she was dead, but she never thought that any of the kids in her own age would know about it – or her for that matter.

She wasn't prepared for any of this, she didn't know what to say. But she knew, for the sake of her family, that she had to come up with a lie.

"Um ... it's a long story," Hope hurried to say. "I don't want to bore you with it."

Luckily for her, before anyone of them had the chance to ask her something else, their teacher walked in and started the class. He didn't even notice that Hope was new when he read the attendance list.

She would have to ask Klaus about a reliable answer to the question Bradin had asked her. Otherwise she would have to come up with a lie by her own, which could lead to some sort of misunderstanding.

* * *

After she had made it through the first couple of classes, it was finally time for lunch. At least there were something she wouldn't be complaining about with the school. In New York they hadn't got much of eating, but here it was like heaven for Hope.

"Don't look," Summer said with fear in her eyes. Hope took her gaze up from her hamburger to find out what Summer was so afraid of. "That's Rachel Lynch, she is the princess of this school and the worst bully ever."

"You don't want to get on her bad side," Trip said.

Hope couldn't help but laugh at her table mates. They had hung out all day and she actually enjoyed their company. Of course they wasn't as funny as Sam, but they had their own kind of charm.

"You're afraid of that barbie?" Hope asked leaning back in her seat to get a better view of the person they claimed ruled this school. If there was something about Hope, it was that she loved a challenge.

She had been the one on top of the rank at her old school, this one couldn't be much different. Hope had to be in charge and she never gave up on something she wanted. She couldn't stand losing, she always had to be the number one.

Rachel Lynch was a girl with designer clothes from bottom to the top and a hairband placed on her blonde head. She had more make-up than Summer and a pink handbag in her hand. Hope didn't believe her eyes, it was too good to be true.

"Don't say that!" Sly hushed her as Rachel was about to walk past them. But of course, she overheard Hope's try to get her attention.

"And who are you?" Rachel said turned toward Hope with a disapproval look in her face. Of course everyone in the dining hall had they attention on them, with whispers surrounding Hope from every angle.

"The name is Hope Mikaelson," she said raising her eyebrows in amusement. "Now why don't you carry on with your so called doings before you do anything you regret."

As Hope already had figured out – the girl Rachel had gotten her actual attention toward her. Rachel's friends stood behind her like miniature bodyguards dressed in identical dresses and with their face expressions either angry or surprised.

"Do you know _who I am_?" Rachel asked clearly not liking the lack of respect Hope was showing.

"Obviously someone who can't find her seat."

Trip covered his mouth with his hand not to show Rachel he was laughing, as the same for at least half of their audience.

"You little bitch!" Rachel spat. "Say another word and I will-"

"You will do what, huh?" Hope cut her off while getting up from her seat to face her. "Tell everyone here a bunch of lies about me? Call me nasty words? Laugh at me? Please, by all means, do as you wish." She threw her arms out beside her. "But you should know that every single word you say, every whisper you make, will be one step closer to your pathetic ending. You will be alone, you will be _nothing _and you're going to wonder what you did _wrong_."

Rachel stared at her, just like the rest of the students, no one able to actually think the new girl could cause such a scene. Hope enjoyed it, the attention and respect she now was gaining and started a new era of this school. It was only a matter of time before everyone knew her name.

"What do you want?" Rachel asked, making the people around her gasp for the sudden take down. "My spotlight? My place at the top? Well, then you will have to fight for it."

"By doing what?" Hope asked. "Making you look bad? I believe not, why don't we have a challenge? A dare? Something that actually matters?"

Hope wished her act would be enough to scare Rachel, she did indeed mean the words she was saying, but she wasn't patient and wanted her place at the top as soon as possible.

"Of course," Hope continued before taking a step closer to Rachel," if you're not too scared."

Rachel searched Hope's eyes for something that would give her away, what a mistake. Hope knew exactly what she was doing, which buttons to press and what to say to make this girl suffer.

"Fine," Rachel gave in after thinking for a long while. "Like what?"

* * *

There was one thing in this world Hope found herself following, that was the common line of words: _no regrets_. No matter what she did, said or even thought, she wouldn't allow herself to regret it. Which also meant that the day she decided to trigger her hybrid side, she would not regret it.

Dressed in her darkest jeans, the usual gray hoodie and leather jacket, Hope opened the window in her room and peeked out. It was in the middle in the night, eleven thirty to be more exact. The best thing about people on the top were that they wouldn't give in when they were in public. Rachel had had no other choice than to accept the challenge Sly had come up with. To jump off the bridge in the Mississippi River.

Rebekah was out with Hayley on some sort of supernatural mission they didn't want to talk about with Hope because she still was too young. Of course that only made her more motivated to become a hybrid. Kol was also out, probably for one or two drinks, while Elijah and Klaus were downstairs.

Hope made sure the coast was clear before she climbed out the window and walked out on the balcony that went all around the building.

She snuck around the corner until she found a pillar that went from the roof all the way down to the ground. She didn't think twice before she took a strong grip around the pillar climbed down.

"Sneaking out are we?"

Hope froze when she heard that voice, she knew she was in trouble now. Her heart stopped inside her chest and her whole body felt like ice cold water. No one of them would understand why this was so important to her. She would be out laughed in school if she didn't even show up at the bridge.

"Kol," she said when she spun around. "This is not what it looks like."

Kol raised his eyebrows. "Sneaking out with the house filled with original vampires, you're either brave or stupid. "

"I can explain."

"Go on darling," he laughed. "I can't wait to see my brother's faces when they realize you're not in your room."

"Um ... Thanks," Hope said in confusion. But she didn't ask why he was in such good mood to let her go, instead she ran past him and started toward the bridge. Kol hadn't been in his best behavior ever since Hope had moved in, he had avoided to be home and nearly never talked to any of them. According to Rebekah, this was normal for him, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that it had something to do with her.

She reached the bridge only a couple of minutes after the clock had turned twelve, where a lot of other kids had gathered to watch the girls jump.

"I was afraid you wouldn't show up," Summer said relieved when she came up beside her. Because of the light from the full moon, it wasn't too difficult to see.

"I'm here," Hope said rolling her eyes. "Where's Rachel."

"Over there," Trip said pointing toward a group of students that looked like seniors. "Sly couldn't make it, his parents caught him sneaking out."

"You know you don't have to do this," Bradin said. "It's only a dare."

He looked at Hope with worry in his eyes, not many people had jumped off the bridge before. Though Hope could feel something different coming from Bradin, it was like he wasn't really scared of her jumping. More like exited about what this would turn out to be.

"Exactly," Hope said. "I am not a coward."

With those words she walked past them toward Rachel with her head held high and without hesitation.

"Are you ready?" she asked confident.

"Are you?" Rachel answered.

"You know the rules," the boy next to Rachel said. "The one who jumps first wins. If anyone of them chickens out or call the cops, then they are out of the competition."

"Let's do this," Rachel said walking toward the edge.

"_Wait!_" Hope shouted, making them all stare at her. "We said we would jump from _on top_ of the bridge, which means we'll have to climb up there." She pointed at the ceiling over her head, only with thick iron pillars that they could hold on to.

Rachel's eyes switched in fear, already letting Hope know she wouldn't be able to make it. "You're kidding, right?"

"Not really."

"You're crazy!"

"I'm competitive and this is a challenge," Hope simply answered before walking over to the ladder that was settled on the iron pillar. "You coming?"

Rachel swallowed before she walked over to the same ladder and started to climb after her. It was a clear night, with not so much as a cloud on the sky or a single whisper of the wind.

"This is so high," Rachel gasped when they had gotten half of the way up. She was looking down at the kids on the bridge, all with their eyes fixed on them. Hope had thought Rachel would at least climb all the way up, guess she was wrong about that one. "I can't do this. You win."

"I'll have to do this challenge," Hope explained. "Otherwise none of this matter."

She didn't bother to look down at Rachel before she continued to drag herself up, Rachel on the other hand stayed in her place before slowly climbing back down again. Hope could hear the disappointed people underneath her because of Rachel's decision to drop out.

Hope wouldn't do that, _she was not a quitter_.

As she reached the top she finally realized how high it was. It made her knees bend and she actually felt nervous. She wasn't afraid of heights or water, but it was thrilling to stand there on top of a huge bridge looking down at the still water.

The students had gone quiet, with only their eyes on her. She smiled before gazing over the ceiling at the water so far down underneath her. If her parents knew this they would kill her, which made her wanting to jump even more.

She took a deep breath and jumped. It all felt like an eternity, she could hear the students gasp and the wind that blew in her ears. The speed she was up in while she fell caused an euphoric feeling, she felt free.

The second she hit the cold water it all came back to her and she did her best to swim up although her clothes were bringing her down. Her lungs was exploding for not getting air and the cold water were creeping her skin. Luckily, she had been smart enough to leave her jacket, shoes and hoodie with Summer before climbing.

As soon as she could breathe again she felt the victory running through her mind. She had won the bet, now she would be the one on top of the rang in school. Rachel was nothing but a history, maybe even a never-was.

The second later, sirens from police cars appeared. She was so dead.


	6. Grounded with Death

Thank you so much for your amazing support! Love you guys for your reviews! :D

So in this chapter you get to see a bit of Klaus' playful side and caring side .. so enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Grounded with death**

"What were you thinking?" Hayley screamed. "You could have died, Hope! Died!"

She had never seen her mother angry before, and now when she knew what it looked like, she didn't want to repeat it. After the police officer had brought her home it was like everyone in the house decided to become an overprotective parent, even Klaus was mad at her.

"But I didn't," Hope simply said making her mother even more angry.

"This is not a joke!"

Hope sat on a chair in the kitchen with a towel wrapped around her, Hayley was on the other side of the table, which was the only thing blocking her from grabbing Hope and shake her into her senses.

"And you two," Hayley turned toward Klaus and Elijah. "You were supposed to look after her!"

"Oh yes, of course, go ahead and blame me," Klaus said sarcastic. "It was my intention of her sneaking out in the middle of the night."

"Calm down, both of you," Elijah said taking a step forward. "I'm sure Hope has an explanation of why she decided to jump of that bridge."

"It was a dare," Hope shrugged.

"A dare?" Hayley shouted. "Great, you did something that stupid because of a dare!"

"I had to! Otherwise I wouldn't have won the fight."

"Which fight?" Elijah asked.

"Between me and another girl who thinks she is the queen, I must have that title or I will be nothing!" Hope tried to defend herself.

Hayley threw her hands in the air with a dramatic sigh, obviously she didn't appreciate the social rules in school.

"I knew this would happen," Hayley said. "She spends one weekend with Klaus and this is what happens!"

"Careful, little wolf", Klaus growled to let her know that she should keep her future thoughts about that subject to herself.

"No, I won't keep calm, Klaus! It's obvious what she is doing, you're all obsessed with being the king of the French Quarters and now she believes she has to do the same with school!"

"Hayley-" Elijah started but got cut off as Klaus threw a glass of water across the room. It hit the wall and went into a thousand of pieces.

"Say another word and I will find you a nice little coffin to put you in for the rest of this century," Klaus warned.

Hope felt her heart beat faster, she had seen her adoptive parents argue many times, but that was nothing compared to this. Elijah and Rebekah didn't seem to find this rather unusual, but it scared Hope. What if they always had these fights when she did something she wasn't supposed to do?

She couldn't just start avoiding trouble, she liked doing stuff that was forbidden and that wouldn't change for a long while.

"Look, this is not dad's fault!" Hope begun not even reacting on her choice of word for describing Klaus. Earlier she had called him Nik, or Klaus, but never father or dad. "I'm the one you should be angry at, I was the one to jump, not him!"

Klaus' angry face at once changed back to his pale, kind of amused look, while Hayley still looked as mad at her as before.

"You're grounded," Hayley decided.

"I'm _what_?" Hope had never been grounded in her entire life, not even when she had drunk all night and been home at six in the morning. "Oh come on, that's not fair! You haven't even made any rules, so how would I know what I can do and can't do?"

"I believe jumping of a bridge belongs to the can't do list," Rebekah remarked.

"Come on, Bekah, I believe this is something between parents and their daughter," Elijah said before pushing his little sister out of the kitchen.

"But I want to see Nik get his ass kicked," Rebekah whined on their way out causing Hope to smile for the first time since she had gotten home. She had school the next day, which meant that she would be very tired because it was three in the morning.

Hayley pulled out a bar stool next to Hope and sat down, while Klaus leaned against the sink on the other side of the table. With the look on their faces, she understood it wasn't such a good idea to smile.

It was the first time Hope was alone with both of her parents, she had spent most of the weekend in Klaus' company and she had talked for hours with Hayley the first days she had been in New Orleans. But never that she would have been in a room with only the both of them to talk to.

"So, let's get this over with then shall we?" Klaus said with a sigh. "You're not allowed to do anything that might kill you until you have completed your transition to a hybrid."

"Her choice of being a hybrid should be her own choice to make and that's going to wait until she is eighteen," Hayley said with calm voice. Hope didn't know if it was because of them being alone that Hayley finally had calm down, or because she was tired of screaming.

Klaus didn't seem too keen on Hayley's demand, but decided to nod as an answer. "As you wish."

"I don't want to wait another year until I can be like you," Hope exclaimed, she tried to keep her voice casual and adult. But her tired look didn't make it believable. "besides, how bad can it be? You two seem to be just fine with it and if there's still some witches who are after me then it might be the best that I trigger the hybrid side of me before they get to me."

"She has a point, little wolf," Klaus said toward Hayley. "We can't be around her every second of every day. If we don't lock her up in her room because she jumped of a bloody bridge!"

Hope didn't dare to meet her father's eyes, she could almost feel the blood in his vanes boil because of anger.

"Oh, now you decide to become a caring parent", Hayley screamed, making the whole building shake. Or at least that was what it felt like.

Klaus lowered his head without taking his eyes of her. "All I have done this last few years is to care for her, I would never do anything to harm her. So why don't we move on to a more important subject instead of fighting about who of us cares more for her?" He was talking with a low, calm voice, which made Hope shiver. It made her feel unconfident almost like she was the smallest living thing on earth at the moment.

Hayley shook her head and Hope sighed loudly covering her head with the towel. They didn't come anywhere with this, her parents were too different to make choices about her.

"Look, this isn't going to work if you two don't agree on anything," Hope said without looking at either of them. "I grew up with parents who argued every night when they thought I had gone to sleep and it ended in a divorce and me growing up on my own. I know you guys aren't really together or anything, but to make this work we have to start living as a family, otherwise we will just end up fighting all the time and I didn't come here to do that."

Klaus and Hayley exchanged a look, she knew neither of them were used with the idea of a normal family. But that was something Hope had looked forward to ever since she had sat down in the car with Elijah.

"What do you proffer, littlest wolf?" Klaus asked.

"I know we're not normal in any kind of way, but I believe small normal stuff count. Like breakfast, dinner and I don't know, travelling?" Hope tried to explain. "I'm new on this too, you know."

At least that seemed to get her parents on other thoughts for a while.

"Count in homework," Klaus added pointing at her. "I've noticed you're lazy with that one, sweetheart."

Hope smiled, she had skipped her homework today because of the dare, but also because she wasn't used to doing homework. Back in New York they didn't really get any and if they did, it was only because the teachers had a bad day and needed someone to punish.

"We'll see about that," Hope smiled and picked up a grape from the plate that Rebekah had put in front of her earlier, according to her it was important to Hope to eat healthy snacks, even though it was in the middle of a night.

She threw the grape right at Klaus who reacted immediately and caught it in his hand, though he squeezed it too hard and it got crushed in his hand.

"Oh no you didn't!" The next moment grapes were flying all over the kitchen, with Hayley trying to hide herself under the table and Hope covering her face with the towel while throwing grapes at Klaus.

Before Hope knew about it, Klaus was in front of her grabbing the towel and dragged it from her before he took a firm grip around her wrists behind her back. "That's not fair!"

"I believe it is, littlest wolf," Klaus chuckled and held his daughter in a steady grip before Hayley started to throw the last standing grapes from the plate. But instead of aiming at Hope, Hayley succeeded to hit Klaus' face, which made him lose his grip around Hope.

"Let's take him down, mom!" Hope screamed coming up beside Hayley. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this comfortable and relaxed in the company of an adult, let alone her own parents.

"So this is your definition of making rules, brother?" Elijah asked from the doorway causing all of them to stop with their doings and turning around. Rebekah was laughing in the background of the sight of her big brother, also known for the big bad hybrid.

"And guess who have to clean this mess up," Rebekah then realized and walked into the kitchen with a tired look.

"Well, sorry," Hope laughed without really meaning her apology, which made Hayley give her a warning gaze. Klaus had at once gone back to himself again, looking like a lost puppy who tried to find a reliable explanation for its actions.

"You should get to bed, Hope" Hayley commanded pointing toward the exit. "And don't forget that you're still grounded."

"Fine." Hope rolled her eyes but did as her mother told her.

* * *

**Klaus' POV:**

He didn't know how to react, this behavior was not normal for him. He shouldn't have allowed himself with such pleasure. There was something about that girl that made him feel another way than usual, and it scared him.

"I'm proud of you." Klaus looked up to meet his big brother's eyes. He had escaped to his study room where he spent most of the time painting and clearing up his mind.

"Spare me the pity-talk, Elijah," Klaus muttered and swept his glass filled with bourbon before re-filling it again.

"She brings out the humanity in you, Nik," Elijah told him, taking yet another step forward. "Don't shut that out."

"Love is a weakness."

"We have had this conversation before, and you know my opinion in the matter."

"Then why don't you go back to reading your old journals, brother." He felt the irritation filling him again and he tried to drown the feelings with the liquor going down his throat.

"You know you love that child," Elijah slowly said while walking toward the door. "You admitted it to her fifteen years ago."

Of course he remembered the day he was about to say goodbye to his daughter. It had been a rainy sunday, only a couple of days before christmas. It had been first time since he had given her to Rebekah.

Klaus shook the thoughts out of his head and sat down by his desk, his head hurting because of the memories.

* * *

**Flashback**

_"__Nik, what are you doing here? Hayley and Elijah just left," Rebekah asked in surprise to see her brother on her porch. He was soaking wet because of the pouring rain and he had a miserable look on his face._

___Packed-up bags were placed in the hallway and boxes filled with stuff were covering the floors making it almost impossible to walk. _

_"__I wanted to .. I ... " he couldn't find the right words to explain his sudden arrival. When they had spoken on the phone earlier he had been perfectly clear that he wasn't going to say goodbye. He had told Rebekah that he had to stay in New Orleans for a lot of different reasons, one of them being the witches trying to strange him._

_"__Come on in," Rebekah offered with sweet voice before stepping aside so he could pass. _

_"__When are they picking her up?"_

_"__Tomorrow at six."_

___Klaus nodded. He wished it wouldn't have to be this way, that the witches hadn't found out about Hope still being alive. But they had and now they were only days from taking her from him for eternity. He couldn't let that happen, even if that meant sending her away. _

_"__I didn't hear a car," Rebekah said with her voice sounding questionable. _

_"__I ran."_

_"__All the way to Chicago?"_

___Klaus was a original hybrid, he was the fastest creature on earth, but even he was surprised by the speed he had been able to force himself to achieve. Maybe his thoughts about seeing his daughter had made him run faster, though he couldn't tell._

_"__Let me grab you a towel," Rebekah said. She disappeared, but was soon back because of using her vampire speed, offering him the towel to him. "Hope's in the livingroom watching cartoons."_

_"__Bekah," he hurried to say before she had the chance to turn around. "I know we've got our differences, but if ... " he sighed, this was too much emotions for him to handle. "If you want to come back to New Orleans, then I won't be there to stop you."_

___Rebekah met his eyes with surprise, giving his daughter to her was one thing, but to accept their spats and fights was another. "Thank you, Nik. I would like that."_

___Rebekah gave him a weak smile before making a gesture toward a pair of double doors. "Want to meet your daughter?"_

___Klaus hesitated, maybe this was a bad idea after all. He didn't know how to act with a two year old, let alone his own baby daughter. _

_"__It's going to be okay", Rebekah told him when she noticed his anxiousness. "She's a really smart girl, she already knows how to talk and how to put on a sweetie face to get what she wants."_

___Rebekah moved past him and opened the double doors showing a huge living room, but Klaus didn't pay attention to anything else than a little girl sitting at the small table with a focused facial expression. She had shoulder long, dark brown hair, a round face and light blue eyes. She was the most beautiful person he had ever seen on his thousand years on earth._

_"__Auntie Bex, I drew you a picture," Hope said with a huge smile. She jumped down from the chair and ran over to Klaus' sister with a piece of paper in her tiny hands. _

_"__Thank you sweetie, it's really lovely" Rebekah said accepting the paper from Hope. She sat down on her knees in front of the little girl and gazed over to Klaus for a second. "Do you remember when I told you about your daddy?"_

___The little girl blinked a few times before she slowly nodded. "He is a busy man."_

___Klaus didn't know how to react, she was adorable, and obviously intelligent. He remembered Hayley telling him about how Hope used Bekah's ipad to teach herself how to form sentences. He never had thought the newest technology actually would be helpful for children. _

_"__Well, Hope, your father decided to pay you a visit before your trip tomorrow," Rebekah said, her voice breaking by every other word. _

___Hope turned her eyes towards Klaus and nodded again. He found himself crouching down to her level just like Rebekah had done before smiling at his daughter._

_"__Hi there," he said smoothly._

_"__Hi," Hope answered taking a step toward him. "Why are you so wet?"_

___Klaus chuckled, not being able to understand it was his daughter right there in front of him. "I've been out in the rain, sweetheart."_

___Hope formed her lips into a straight line and wrinkled her forehead. "How come you didn't use an umbrella? Me and Bex always use umbrellas when it's raining."_

___Klaus tried not to laugh, what of a reliable excuse could he come up with for a two year old without lying to her? Not that she would mind that considering her age, but for Klaus it was something he wanted to avoid. _

_"__I forgot it," he said. It wasn't totally a lie, he hadn't even bothered to think about it when he had left the compound. _

___He hadn't even noticed that Rebekah had left the room, though he could hear her heartbeat on the other side of the wall. _

_"__Wanna see my drawings?" Hope asked and took his hand to drag him toward the table before he had any chance of saying otherwise. Her small hand in his made his stomach twist. Her grip was so firm, it made him wish she never had to let his hand go. "Bekah thinks I am gonna be an artist!"_

___The drawings were surprisingly good for a two year old, even better than what his had been in his youngest years. She had his talent, only that she used it to more than express her feelings. _

___Hope continued to talk about what she found interesting, she even showed him some of her favorite programs on Bekah's ipad. Klaus became utterly surprised when Hope decided she wanted to draw him a picture too, she told him he could have it so he wouldn't forget her. _

_"__I will never forget you, sweetheart," he promised her. "Not as long as I walk on this earth."_

___Then she started laughing, giggling at the words he just told her. It confused him, what was it? _

_"__You talk funny, daddy," Hope explained and gave him one of her innocent smiles. "But it is okay, I like you anyways."_

___She crawled down from her seat beside him in the couch and sat down right in his lap, leaning her head on his shoulder. Her heart beated faster than his normal rhythm, he could feel it banging against his chest. _

___Hope took his free hand in hers and unfolded his fingers so she could put her hand in his. It looked so tiny compared to his, with her fingers not even close of touching his. So different, but yet so similar. _

_"__I love you, sweetheart," he whispered before placing a kiss on her forehead as she fell asleep in his arms. He closed his eyes causing a single tear fall down his cheek._

* * *

Klaus opened his eyes to shake off the memory from his brain, the feelings he had felt when he had held her in his arms were unbearable. He didn't know how to react with them, how to use them and how to forget them. Every single memory of his days on earth had been banished from his knowledge and hidden in a place where he himself was free from them. But this memory, was too much for him to keep hidden.

Later that night, Rebekah had told him something that had made him more motivated to get the French Quarters back into safety. He needed it to make it a home for his daughter more than ever.

* * *

**Flashback**

_"__Nik, the witch I used to put a cloaking spell on Hope told me something," Rebekah said when she walked into the living room. Klaus looked up from his sleeping daughter and gently put her down beside him on the couch. _

_"__What?" he asked. He could feel the worry that was coming out of his sister, she wasn't able to look him in the eye."What is it, Bekah?"_

_"__The witch told me that Hope's hybrid side hasn't been trigged yet," Rebekah begun to explain. "But the second she turns eighteen, her craving for blood will be more intense than for any other creature in this world."_

___Klaus turned his gaze toward the small sleeping human, without as much as a problem on her mind. She was the most innocent person in his life, he would never allow himself to put her in danger again. _

_"__You know what that means, Nik," Rebekah said with fear in her voice. "We have to have the Quarter safe within sixteen years, otherwise our whole existence will be in danger."_

_"__I promise you, sister," Klaus said looking her right in the eye. "That I will do everything in my power to make this family whole again, no matter the cost."_

* * *

**Hope's POV:**

Grounded for two weeks, which led to a lot of complaining and trying to use her imagination to come up with something to use her time on.

Kol had been very social those two weeks, he had actually been kind of a pain in the ass when it came to Hope. Always finding new pranks to play on his siblings and Hayley, don't even mention the people walking around on the street. It turned out those two made a good team, Kol was a mastermind and Hope had more experience on pranks than anyone else.

But Hayley's definition of being grounded had been taken to another level when she had found Hope and Kol on the balcony throwing balloons filled with colored water on passing-byers. She had strictly said that Hope wouldn't be allowed to step outside the compound, included the balcony and courtyard.

"You should be happy you only got two weeks," Trip said at lunch two weeks after she had jumped off the bridge. "I got three weeks and a list filled with choirs to do everyday."

"That's because you don't know how to negotiate with your parents," Hope smiled in victory.

It had been unusual quiet in school the last couple of days. After she had jumped off the bridge everyone wanted to talk to her, but now everything went back to normal. Or at least almost.

Rachel spent most of her schooldays hiding from other people, her little minions that had followed her had split up and had friends of their own. Hope lived everyday as in paradise, everyone greeted her and no one dared to stand up against her. Just like she wanted it to be.

"Oh my god," Summer exclaimed. She looked up from the newspaper she had read and gave Hope a disgraceful look.

"What is it?" she asked but didn't wait for an answer before she had taken the paper from Summer's hands. It didn't take her long before she found what Summer was so upset about.

_Two people found dead in Brooklyn, New York. Still no evidence of what may have happened. _

And then a picture of a man and a woman lying next to each other in a torn down apartment. Hope's apartment. She didn't have to read the whole story that the author of the article had written, she already knew what had happened.

"Did you know them?" Summer asked carefully. She had told them that she had lived in Brooklyn with her adoptive mom before she had come here. She had told them nothing about why and how the Mikaelson's had found her after her disappearance from New Orleans almost seventeen years ago.

"I need to go," she breathed before getting up from her seat and walking out of the dining hall. She couldn't think, breathe or anything else but run out of the school and toward the French Quarters. She felt sick, like she wanted to throw up everything she just had ate.

Her adoptive parents firm faces on the picture, both with white skin and empty looks. Not a scar or anything that would proof their death was because of a fight.

By the time she made it to the compound her pulse was pounding in her ears, her throat dry and eyes threatening to let tears fall down. She already knew where to find him, and she didn't bother to answer when Hayley asked her why she was home so early.

"You killed them!" she screamed at him as she slammed the door open to his study. "Don't try to lie to me, I know it was you!"

She took a step toward Klaus with her arm outstretched in front of her. He met her upset gaze with his, staying stiff and without any emotions.

"How could you? They were my parents!" Hope shouted not being able to hold back the tears any longer.

"No, Hope," Klaus answered with an angry voice. "_We _are your parents!"

Hope shook violently her head, it wasn't true. What kind of father would kill other people, let alone people who actually did matter to his own daughter?

"They didn't care for you, they mistreated you and-"

"No they didn't!" Hope cut him off. "They loved me and you killed them! You're a monster!"

She ran out of Klaus' study and up the stairs toward her bedroom. She was done with this, she wanted to go back to New York.


	7. Gone With The Wind

Thank you guys so,so,soo much for your amazing support! Feel free to ask any questions if you have something on your mind!

Other than that, please continue read and review! :)

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Gone with the wind**

**Elijah's POV**

"What were you thinking, brother? That she would be just fine with the fact that her own father killed her adoptive parents?" Elijah said trying to keep his voice firm.

Out of all the stupid things his little brother had done, this was one of the worst. Not only had Klaus killed two innocent people, he had also hurt his own daughter. Elijah had hoped that Hope would bring light into his brother's dark soul, but it seemed like not even she could keep him from doing irresponsible things.

"They mistreated her!" Klaus shoot back getting up to his feet from behind his desk. "They didn't care for her at all, she admitted it herself that she was raised by her own."

"And your answer to that was to kill them?" Elijah shook his head. "That girl upstairs is both scared and confused, you have only made it worse, Niklaus. Just as most of your actions seem to result."

"So I should have let them go in with their lives like nothing really had happened? Believe it or not Elijah, but I did Hope a favor."

Elijah rolled his eyes, his brother's lack of manners sometimes drove him crazy. Believing that death was the only solution for vengeance and that he always had to be the one to be right no matter of the subject.

"You'll have to come up with one hell of an excuse to your daughter, otherwise she will hate you just as much as would like to do right now," Elijah announced. "And you will have to make that quickly before Hayley starts wondering what's going on."

"You can't give me orders when it comes to my own doings!" Klaus said taking a step forward in aggression. "Hope is my daughter, Elijah, not yours!"

He let out a sigh and watched his brother for a couple of seconds, the man their father had called for a bastard and unwanted child his whole life. Klaus had suffered more than any of them, but maybe it was time for him to let go of the past and welcome a new generation.

"Then I recommend you start acting like a real father instead of the one you grew up with believing were yours," Elijah said calmly. "Because this is madness, Niklaus."

Klaus' eyes widened when Elijah spoke up, they always did when someone mentioned Mikael's name or referred to him.

"I would never threat her like Mikael treated me," he said looking away from Elijah for a brief moment.

"Then why don't you go up there and ask for her forgiveness instead of acting like Mikael?"

The thought of having Mikael and Esther only a couple of feet underneath him made his heart skip a beat. They would have to get rid of them one day, sooner or later they would come up with a plan good enough to escape from their prison.

Elijah walked out of Klaus' study without another look at him, he had to exchange a couple of words with Hayley, who probably didn't understand what was happening at all. He found her walking around the table in the kitchen with a worried face expression. This was hard for all of them, it wasn't easy to raise a daughter.

"What is happening, Elijah?" Hayley asked at once she caught his eyes with hers. "Why was Hope so upset? She wouldn't let me inside her room and I-"

"It's going to be okay," Elijah whispered in her hair as he pulled her into a hug. She closed her eyes and leaned her head onto his shoulder, sobbing. "I know this is hard, but we will make it. I promise you we will make this work."

He held her until he couldn't hear her sobbings anymore, then he loosened his embrace to look into her eyes. Although she had cried she was beautiful, her hair in an ponytail and her gaze sad – but still strong. She was the strongest person he knew, the only person who made his heart skip a beat when he saw her.

He swallowed, allowing himself to look down at her lips before moving his gaze back up to her eyes. They hadn't allowed themself to be anything more than friends, mostly because of everything going on and the search for Hope.

Elijah cupped her cheek with his hand before leaning in, she didn't make a move to hesitate. He had waited so long for the right moment, gathering his courage to kiss her, but it never seemed to become anything by waiting. They were only inches apart.

"She's gone." Klaus stormed into the kitchen not seeming to notice them before they let go of one another. Elijah couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed, but he had to keep his thoughts straight. "Hope is gone, her window was open and her bag was missing."

"Hope has run away?" Hayley asked. "Why would she do that? What did you do?"

Klaus looked furiously at her and then on Elijah. "I have to find her."

"We'll search the Quarters," Elijah said with a quick gaze at Hayley. "You take the airport, train stations and bus stations. She can't have gone far."

Klaus nodded before disappearing faster than the eyes could catch and Elijah moved toward the door with Hayley behind him.

"What did Klaus do?" she demanded an answer.

"He killed Hope's adoptive parents, she didn't take it rather well," Elijah explained.

"This isn't happening," Hayley said with her voice breaking again. She had been crying a lot lately, not being able to control her emotions.

"It's going to be okay, I promise."

* * *

**Klaus' POV:**

Klaus was furious, without a real explanation why she would run away. How could Hope really believe her adoptive parents cared for her? She had lived in an apartment that smelled worse than any place he had ever been, her father had left her for another family and she still found them as her parents.

He was her father, no one else.

She was a teenager, what could she possible know about life? He had lived for the last thousand years, he had more experience with life than any other living creature. One thing was for sure, her two weeks of being grounded was just about to extend until she graduated from college.

Though they had spent much time together the last two weeks, talking about everything that came to her mind.

* * *

**Flashback:**

_"__Do your homework, littlest wolf," Klaus said making a gesture toward the pile of books in front of her. They were sitting in his study, him with a bunch of old, dusty books that could give him a clue about the witches and their ancestors. He still tried to find someone capable of teaching her magic, someone he could trust and it wasn't easy since he had killed most of the witches in the nearest radius. _

_"__But it's boring, why do I have to learn math when we have calculators? And geography when there is google maps?" Hope complained. She drummed her pen against the table. She was wearing her usual black beanie on her head, the ripped jeans and a raglan long sleeved shirt that had a picture of a music band on it. _

_His amused look suddenly changed when he saw the black marks on her right wrist, which immediately made him look up from his reading. _

_"__What have you got there?" he asked nodding toward her wrist. Hope exposed her arm and thereby also five freedom birds tattooed over a scar._

_"__A tattoo, I didn't want people to see my ugly scar so I tried to hide it," she explained. "I got the scar when I was little. I think I scratched myself on a sharp twig or something."_

_Klaus watched her tattoo's for a moment, swept into his deep thoughts before Hope covered her arm up after calling his name a couple of times._

_"__For having extended hearing, you're quite hard to get attention from," she joked before turning back toward her homework. "Why do you want me so bad to learn magic anyway?"_

_"__Don't you want to learn, sweetheart?" he asked instead of answering her question. _

_"__I asked you first!"_

_She had become more stubborn for every day that passed by, she wasn't as shy as she had been the first couple of days. She had no problem with making herself heard in the family, especially when it came to having conversations with Kol. They could go on for hours arguing about something not important. _

_"__Because, littlest wolf, if you learn magic, you'll be able to do things you could never imagine."_

_"__And I would be the most powerful creature on this earth," she added. "I overheard Hayley and Elijah talking about it." She hurried to say when he gave her a confused look. "What's up with those two anyway? Their way of looking at each other is obvious that something is going on between them, but neither of them wants to admit it."_

_Klaus chuckled and leaned backwards. "Quite good at finding details, aren't you?"_

_"__You could be blind but still see the sparkles around them," Hope rolled her eyes. "So what's up with them anyway?"_

_Klaus sighed, having a gossip conversation with his daughter about his brother's love life hadn't exactly been on his mind. But who could he blame for her curiosity about her own mother in flesh and blood?_

_"__Elijah won't allow himself to approach her because he thinks that will ruin this family and his relationship with you."_

_"__How come?" Hope asked, clearly not understanding the noble thing about Klaus' big brother._

_"__That's just the way he is, love, nothing to worry about."_

_"__He is a bit stiff though, he talks with this deep, slow voice and it takes him like an hour to finish a sentence."_

_Klaus laughed, it was amazing how much information she had been able to catch up on within these days in their company. She read them all like they were an open book. _

_"__You've noticed that too," Klaus shook his head before a sudden seriousness came all over him. "Are you trying to keep up this conversation to avoid doing your homework?" She was a teenager after all. _

_Hope innocently smiled, just as she had done when she was two years old. "Maybe."_

_"__Get back to work, young lady," he said playfully adult with a wide smile on his face. She was smarter than he wanted to admit. _

_"__Buzzkiller."_

* * *

Buzzkiller, it seemed to be Hope's favorite word these days, no matter what you forbid her to do or told her that her idea maybe wasn't so wise as she claimed – the word always appeared one way or another.

Of course Klaus knew she was only being dramatic and messed around with them. But he couldn't really blame her, she was the reason he had felt relaxed the last couple of weeks. It felt like he had nothing to worry about as long as she was there with him, it both killed him and healed him on the inside.

"I got your text, what is it?" Marcel asked when he appeared around the corner as Klaus exited the airport. He had looked for Hope everywhere except for the train station and nearest bus stations.

"Hope is missing, I believe she ran away," Klaus explained in a hurry. "I need you to help me find her."

Marcel nodded, already understanding the seriousness in this situation. Their relationship had grown stronger within the last couple of years, they were like brothers now and Klaus knew he was able to trust him.

"Where do you want me to look first?" he asked.

"The park's all around New Orleans," Klaus answered. He knew about her habit of picking people's pockets in the parks, she had told him about it.

* * *

**Flashback:**

_"__Picking someone's pocket is the easiest thing in this world," she said leaning back in the chair causing it to balance on only the ones in the back. "All you have to do is be quick and making the victim think about something else."_

_"__How did you learn this?" Elijah asked curiously. _

_Hope smiled and leaned forward, making the chair's front legs hit the ground with a loud bang. "I had a boyfriend once that taught me everything I needed to know."_

_Klaus was about to spit out the bourbon he had been sipping on, she was sixteen years old – she was barely allowed to be out longer than ten in the evening if he had anything to say about. _

_"__Your what?" he spat and blinked a few times before taking a step forward. "When, exactly did this training session occur?"_

_"__Niklaus, there is no need of getting angry," Elijah stated. Klaus glared at him, no need of getting angry? It was his daughter they talked about!_

_"__Relax," Hope said rolling her eyes. "I was eight, we didn't really have a sexual relationship or anything. We were just kids messing around."_

_Elijah rose his eyebrows and made a hand gesture toward Klaus proving his point that he had been right. It didn't quite make Klaus calm, though. The fact that his daughter could have had boyfriends had some how slipped his mind while her being here. But now when the subject was on fire, he could at least make sure she hadn't done anything she would regret._

_"__You've had boyfriends?" Klaus asked grabbing a chair around the table with his hands. _

_"__Yes."_

_"__How many?"_

_Elijah groaned, obviously not as keen on the topic as Klaus happened to be. _

_"__I don't know, I lost count," Hope slowly said. "After five or something ... "_

_Klaus threw his hands in the air, that's it. "You're not having one now, are you?"_

_Hope laughed, a confident, I-don't-believe-this kind of laugh. She didn't take this serious, but Klaus knew she saw that he was serious concerning the subject. _

_"__No, and now when I know how you react by the word boyfriend, I won't tell you when I get one." Hope sighed before getting up to her feet and walking toward the exit._

_"__We're not finished!" Klaus called after her. _

_Hope stopped and turned to face him, with a calm look on her face. She enjoyed this, watching him suffer for the worry he felt for her. It made her believe him and know that he actually did care for her with his whole heart._

_"__Are we going to have the safe sex talk?" sha asked, making Elijah cover his mouth with his hand drowning his chuckle. "I think I'll pass, but thanks."_

_Klaus watched her disappear around the corner from his study before Elijah couldn't hold back anymore and bursted out in laughter._

* * *

Klaus smiled at the memory, it made his cold heart grow a few inches. Who would have thought that only one creature could make this impression on him? If anyone had told him this twenty years ago, he would have laughed that person right in the face. But now, after being able to talk to her, getting to know her and what she was thinking about, he wasn't as sure if he would bring back his past life anymore. The one where he only had the Quarter to be concerned about. This was his doing, his miracle, his daughter and maybe his savior.

He rushed in to the last train station he could find, it was filled with humans walking around like they owned the place. He shoved a lot of people to get past them and get a better view of the place, she had to be there.

No one had called him that they had found her yet and he didn't recognize her scent good enough yet to find her by it. He admitted that he was worried, what if the last standing witches had found her and brought her with them?

He shook his head, making himself think about something else, otherwise someone in the nearest radar would drop dead in front of him.

One of the feeling he actually enjoyed was the feeling when you get relieved, it is like your whole body allowed itself to relax and you can finally breathe again. It's like every single part of you that had been close to fall apart finds it strength and keeps it together.

That was the exact feeling he felt when he saw her only a couple of feet from him. She sat alone on one of the benches, with a train ticket in her hand and her usual hood over her head. Dressed in her white sneakers, that for the record wasn't that white anymore, and skinny, ripped jeans. Hope looked exactly like she had when she arrived to New Orleans, with her leather jacket on her and that tough look on her face, although he could see that she had been crying.

Klaus took a couple of steps toward her, causing her gaze to look up and find his eyes. She bit her lip, trying to stop the tears from start falling again.

"Sweetheart, I am so sorry." Klaus said as he approached her. It had been a long while since he had told someone an apology and actually meant it. The gift of being able to verbally explain that they had been wrong and to mean the apology was something that Klaus often referred as something his big brother Elijah was good at. Klaus himself almost never regretted any of his actions, which led to only a few apologies.

"Why did you do it?" Hope asked, he could hear her hurt voice and it felt like knives cutting his heart into pieces.

"I thought they mistreated you," he admitted taking yet another step toward her before crouching down in front of her, making her look into his eyes. "I am a man wanting revenge for actions that hurts me or the people I care about."

Hope sobbed, shaking her head. "It wasn't your revenge to make."

That surprised him, so she was mad at them? Then why was she so upset? Because he had been the one to kill them and not her?

"Don't you understand?" she said. "Every time you find someone hurting me you'll want to kill that person, even though that person might be close to me. People hurt each other, dad, and that's part of life! I have accepted it and so should you. There are other ways to find revenge than to kill someone."

"That's not why I did it," he breathed, he felt anger filling him. His hands making themselves into fists, he wanted to punch something, cause blood to pour out on the open floor.

"Are you afraid?" she then asked. Klaus didn't understand what she meant, he untied his fists and swept away the tears from her cheeks. She didn't seem to mind him doing it, she kept her gaze linked with his. "Afraid of losing me?"

"Every second of every day," he admitted. She was the most precious being in his life, she would always be.

"I believe, that you killed them because you were afraid that I would go back to them," Hope slowly explained. "You were afraid I would leave you for them and that's why you never let Rebekah or Elijah have their own love ones. You're afraid that if they love someone else, it will make them love you less."

He didn't answer, she had touched a nerve. After these weeks in her company, she was already able to read him, letting all of him sink in and trying to understand why he was the way he was. He couldn't change, he knew that and he believed she did too.

"What will you do when I turn up on the doorstep one day with a boy with me?" she then asked. "A boy whom I love and want to spend the rest of my life with? Will you kill him?"

Klaus licked his lips, he didn't want to lie to her but he knew the truth would scare her. It scared him. "I don't know. I wouldn't want you to get hurt, I will always protect you."

"You hurt me by killing people I care about!" She exclaimed and got up from her seat, making a half circle around him with her arms outstretched. "And because of what? Because you don't believe in love?"

Klaus glared at her. "Easy, Hope, you're causing a scene."

The people around them watched them as they walked past, probably wondering what he had done to make her so upset.

"Go to hell," she whispered before walking past Klaus.

He was fast to grab her by the arm, pulling her back from running away again. "Don't walk away from me!"

He couldn't believe this, his own daughter stood against him. They had gotten well along since she got here, why couldn't it just stay that way? Two lives here or there wasn't much of an effort and he knew she would get over it sooner or later.

"What will you do?" she challenged. Her eyes went down to glance at his grip before she looked back up into his eyes. They were filled with anger, disappointment and disgrace. "Kill me?"

She shook off his hand around her arm and took a step backwards. "Or put me in a box for a century or two? Always and forever, right?"

This wasn't her, this wasn't the daughter of his he had gotten to know. He didn't recognize her, never had he thought she would act like this toward him.

"Careful, you don't know what I am capable of, love." He didn't believe the words coming out of his mouth, he had just threatened her. His own daughter.

His heart sunk inside his chest. He sounded like Mikael.

Hope took a step toward him. "I would love to see you try. But then again you would, wouldn't you? Considering the fact that you're obsessed with power, you have to be the most powerful one, don't you? So why don't get me out of the way for you? Because you know, as soon as my training in magic begin and my hybrid side is trigger, I will be the most powerful creature in this world. Not you."

Klaus felt an impulse of madness, the next second he had sped over to the window behind Hope and crushed the class with his fist. A rain of glass fragments went all over the floor, causing people to stop and stare at him with scared eyes.

"Get on with your doings, forget this ever happened," he compelled the closest people with a voice filled with rage.

He studied his fist, fragments of glass had been pressed inside his knuckle making the wounds heal slower than usual.

When he looked at Hope his sudden rage were gone, the eyes that met his wasn't angry or disappointed anymore – they were confused.

Klaus didn't show any sign of emotions as he started to pull of the pieces of glass from his hand. "What is it?"

"Why didn't you hit me? I manipulated you, but you didn't even touch me."

"I told you, I will always protect you," he said taking a step forward and putting a hand on her shoulder. "I grew up with the belief that my father didn't love me, I will not let you do the same."

Hope broke their eye contact, her face expressing a bunch of different emotions. She was ashamed of herself, for using that kind of manipulation on Klaus only to see how he would react. "You love me?"

Klaus bent his knees to get his head on her level, forcing her to meet his eyes. "I have been selfish for a thousand years, doing things I regret and causing others to suffer only for my own good, but with you I can't allow myself to be that person." He talked with a low voice, making sure that no one except she heard his choice of words. "I love you, Hope, because you're my daughter and I will always be here for you."

Hope gasped for air as her eyes got wet of tears. "I'm sorry for my way of acting." Klaus opened his mouth to answer her, but didn't get the chance before she embraced him.

He put his arms around her, dragging her even closer to him. "It's okay, sweetheart, I forgive you."

* * *

He needed blood, he could feel it in his bones. He had never thought that emotions could have such huge effect on him, it felt like he had been thrown from a mountain and landed on sharp stones. But it was worth it, Hope had gotten herself something to think about, so had Klaus. She hadn't said it out loud that she forgave him for killing her adoptive parents, but her way of acting convinced him that she was at least considering it.

"So your father actually did beat you?" she asked. They were walking toward the compound, he had called Elijah and Marcel to confirm that he had found Hope. Elijah of course wanted to talk to him, probably remind him yet again to think things trough before he acted.

"Yes, almost to death once or twice. My siblings usually made their entrance and stopped him at the last minute."

"But they wasn't treated like this?"

Klaus shook his head. "No, only me."

"He's a jerk," Hope said simply shrugging.

Klaus looked at her with a wrinkled forehead, he had just told her that Mikael had treated him as a bastard his whole childhood, but it didn't seem to affect her at all. Did she really understand what that meant for a person's life?

"Mind if I ask you how you can see this as a simple thing?"

"Because," Hope said. "It happened over a thousand years ago, you've gotten your revenge and there is millions of other people out in the world only waiting for their redemption." She picked up a small stone from the ground and played with it in her hands. "Why let yourself get affected by something only one person thinks of you when there is a lot of other humans, werewolves and vampires that has other opinions? I wouldn't let myself get torn down because one person couldn't stand me."

"Even if that person almost killed you every other day?"

"Almost, but he didn't," Hope pointed out. "If he would have then none of the things you have achieved would have happened. Acting like everything you do is because of what someone told you or didn't tell you is insanity, I would like to show that person what I can make of what I've got and that I am better than that person instead of letting myself form my life for one thing that I found being tough. You can't change the past, but you can affect your future."

Klaus hadn't thought about it that way, he had always blamed Mikael of his way of acting, just like his siblings did. He had been so focused on his anger toward Mikael that he hadn't been able to form his way of seeing things another way. And now it was too late, his heightened senses because of him being a hybrid wouldn't let him change, at least not for a very long while.

"So you're not thinking about how your life could have been if your adoptive parents would have cared for you?" he asked in curiosity. He knew it was a tense subject, considering that he had just killed them. He prepared for a reaction filled with hate, but she didn't seem to mind her question at all.

"Nope," she said popping the p before throwing the stone as far as she could in front of her. "If they would have, then I wouldn't be this strong person that I am. Besides, there is no use of me thinking that way because what happened has already happened and I can't change that, so why bother feeling sorry for myself when I can't change the past?"

"I'm impressed," he admitted. "You're a strong girl."

"Yes I am," she said. "I have no regrets."

Klaus almost wished he would have the same way of thinking as her, she was really mentally strong. She probably wouldn't let anything affect her way of seeing things. He found himself watching at her with pride, believe it or not, but it was his blood that was running thought her vanes.

"Hope!" Klaus turned toward the boyish voice that appeared as they were about to walk into the compound. His daughter stopped and so did he as the teenaged boy ran toward them.

"Trip?" Hope asked, giving Klaus a quick gaze. "What are you doing here?"

The boy Trip stopped in front of them. "I wanted to make sure you were okay, you just ran off earlier today and I didn't see you in class." They boy's eyes met Klaus' and instead of looking away, he took a step forward and held out his hand. "You must be Hope's father, I'm Trip Westerly."

Klaus didn't hesitate before taking Trip's hand, shaking it. "Niklaus Mikaelson." He considered crushing the boy's hand, but didn't when Hope gave him a warning look. "Hope has told me about you."

That made his daughter give him an uncomprehending look, which he replied with a smile. Although he now knew he had to have a talk with her about this boy, he couldn't have her run around with any kind of boy around her.

"Want to join me at a café down the street, Hope?" Trip asked. "Summer and Bradin are also there."

"Um ... " Hope gave Klaus a questioning look.

"Go ahead," Klaus said making a gesture toward the street. "Enjoy yourself."

"Thanks … Dad", she smiled in surprise before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and running off with Trip by her side.

"But make sure to be home by dinner!" he called after her, causing her smile to grow wider.


	8. Playing With Fire

Thank you guys, so much for you amazing support! Thanks everyone who has favorited, followed and reviewed! You all totally make my day! :)

Anyways, I just finished this story and I'm contemplating to write a second part of this story, because I believe the second part is too different from this one to just continue to write it here. Though I'm not one hundred percent sure yet, but we'll see ... Of course there is a lot more to come with this story too so don't think it's over yet! ;)

Here's chapter eight, hope you enjoy it and leave me a review when you have read it thank you!

* * *

**Chapter 8 – Playing with fire**

* * *

_Come and hold my hand_  
_I wanna contact the living_  
_Not sure I understand_  
_This role I've been given_  
_I sit and talk to God_  
_And he just laughs at my plans_  
_My head speaks a language_  
_I don't understand_

_I just wanna feel_  
_Real love feel the home that I live in_  
_Cos I got too much life_  
_Running through my veins_  
_Going to waste_

_I don't wanna die_  
_But I ain't keen on living either_  
_Before I fall in love_  
_I'm preparing to leave her_

_Scare myself to death_  
_That's why I keep on running_  
_Before I've arrived_  
_I can see myself coming_

_I just wanna feel_  
_Real love feel the home that I live in_  
_Cos I got too much life_  
_Running through my veins_  
_Going to waste_  
_And I need to feel_  
_Real love and the love ever after_  
_I can not get enough_

**_- Feel, Robbie Williams_**

* * *

Hope opened her eyes and immediately ripped of her headphones from her ears. It was a dangerous thing for her to do, listening to deep music with lyrics that made her heart beat faster. Music made her to the person she was, she loved music, it cured her.

But singing out loud with _Robbie William's_ song _Feel _playing on her new iphone hadn't been in her mind when she started listening to the track. It was an amazing song, that she could admit, its words described her situation perfectly and his voice made her think everything would be fine if she only had music to listen to in her life.

"At least you didn't inherit my brother's singing voice," Kol said. He leaned toward the wall right beside her poster with the band _Simple Plan_ on it.

"Shut up, jerk," Hope said throwing her pillow at his smirking face. Of course he managed to catch it before it hit him.

"Such harsh words you use," Kol said playing hurt of her comment. "I don't usually give compliments, but it's quite a voice you've got there."

"Thanks," Hope muttered, she didn't like compliments, she didn't believe the people who said them to her. She got up to her feet and walked past Kol toward the stairs.

"I'm serious, darling!"

Hope rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"You're not nice," Kol pointed out walking after her into the kitchen. Klaus, Hayley, Rebekah and Elijah were out, which left Kol in charge. Hope couldn't decide if that was good or bad, probably a bit of both.

She found it hard to believe that it already had been over a month since she had gotten to New Orleans, she adjusted better than fine in school and did her best to keep herself out of trouble. Although it wasn't easy, as late as yesterday she had been close to remark her biology teacher's lack of teaching ability. But luckily for her, Trip had been able to stop her.

Trip had become Hope's new Sam, they were like best friends and she felt like she could tell him almost everything. He was the one that cheered her up when she didn't feel well, and the one that always was there for here. Summer, Bradin and Sly of course were also there, but not in the same way.

Hope had also started her training in magic, for almost two weeks ago. In the beginning she had thought it would be impossible, but her teacher was a patient woman and she had already taught Hope a lot of different tricks. For example how to light a candle with her mind.

"Surprise, surprise," Hope said rolling her eyes.

"You know you should be nicer to me, I am your uncle after all," Kol said with a smirk all across his face.

"Look, this is how this is going to work," Hope said leaning onto her elbows over the table. "I'm going out with my friends and you will stay here and do whatever you're keen on doing. Are we clear?"

Kol mirrored her actions. "I am in charge, darling, I call the shots."

Hope frowned. What was she supposed to do? She had to go to this party, otherwise she wouldn't have any idea of what her friends talk about in school. It was an important party, with her appearance being mandatory

"What do I have to do to convince you to let me go to this stupid party?" Hope asked. If there was something she knew about Kol, it was that he could be bought. He always came up with something that he wanted, which only made the 'babysitting' easier for Hope.

"No hard feelings, mate," Kol said stepping forward. "But if I let you go, then my brother Nik will put a dagger through my heart and I just came back to life so I would rather avoid that kind of treatment."

Hope sighed, she would have to come up with some more drastic arrangement. "Nik will listen to me, I will say that I blackmailed you and broke your neck before you noticed anything."

Kol raised his eyebrows, not convinced.

"Hayley thought me how to do it," she explained. "I did practice on Elijah."

"Bekah would laugh herself to death if she knew about it," Kol said. "And I don't like being teased with."

It was hopeless, which sounded rather ironic in her head. And now when Kol knew about the party, it was no way he would let her out of his sight so she could sneak out. Besides, her parents, Rebekah and Elijah could be back any minute, they had said that they would only be out for a short while.

Obviously they had gotten trouble with the new pack of werewolves that were passing by, they were convinced that they should stay in New Orleans for the nearest future. Klaus wasn't too pleased about their decision because of their lack of respect. He was after all the king of New Orleans. His pack of vampires that were walking around in the compound every now and then never spoke to Hope, but she knew they all wondered about who she was because she didn't believe her father had told them.

When it came to the witches, they all were as good as gone. Except for the ones who were allied with Klaus, with that said meaning the one teaching Hope magic and the one keeping her grandparents locked in the basement.

She had overheard Hayley and Elijah speaking about a new area of witches that had been seen in the French Quarters, but they had disappeared before anyone of them had the chance to react. And since nothing had happened for the last couple of days, they assumed the witches only fastly passed by.

Turning back to Kol, Hope whined. "You're supposed to be the fun uncle."

"I am fun, darling," Kol said with a wide smile. "But I choose my life over your party."

"Then why don't you come with me?" she said. "If you come with me, then you don't break the deal with my parents and we both stay alive and happy."

"To a high school party?" Kol snorted. "Are you serious?"

"There will be college girls too, you know."

Kol raised his head, his facial expression exited. "Well, let's go then."

* * *

They arrived at the house when most of the guests already were there. It was filled with people, both from her high school, other schools around New Orleans and as Hope had promised, college girls.

Kol parked the car down the street so they walked the last bit. At once as they got to the house, Kol disappeared to make himself heard of a group older girls, while Hope disappeared into the house. Sly had been the one to arrange this party, because it was his house and he was on top of the social events in school.

"Hope!" Summer called out and waved at her from the living room where a game of beerpong were held. "You showed up."

"Of course, I wouldn't miss this for anything," Hope answered before taking a cold beer from the freezer on the table beside her. "Where's the boys?"

"Sly is upstairs trying to get some idiots out of his parent's bed," Summer explained. "Bradin should be here any minute and Trip is over there talking to James."

Hope let her gaze catch Trip's, he immediately smirked at her and excused himself from James, who was the captain of the school basketball team.

"Hey," he greeted. "How did you convince your uncle to let you come?"

"College girls," she laughed and pointed out the window where Kol stood, he had one of his arms around a girl's shoulders and probably tried to get her with him somewhere. "He is a one-of-a-kind guy."

Summer slowly nodded. "And hot."

"Do you seriously think all of my family members are hot?" Hope asked before taking a sip of her beer. She had planned of being sober this night, but since she already had broken that thought she didn't see any reason to stop.

"Not my fault your family is attractive, speaking of, how about that older brother of your father? He is really handsome, is he always wearing suits?"

"Get a life," Hope grimaced.

"Fine, let's get drunk."

About two hours later, Hope could feel how her head were spinning. She had lost count on how many beers she had drunk, but she was almost sure Summer had drunk as many. Trip had also disappeared somewhere, again, he had told her to wait in the kitchen and so she did.

She sat on the counter with a glass of water beside her, she had decided to stop drinking after she had felt like throwing up. Kol had disappeared too, probably somewhere with that blonde girl he had found.

"I know what you are."

Hope's gaze shoot up from her feet and she met Bradin's eyes. He was soaking wet, making a line of water follow his every step.

"You're wet. What did you do?" she asked amused. "Fall into the pool?"

He didn't change his pale look when he stepped toward her, making the space between them only a couple of inches.

"I've been watching you ever since you got here, it should have been obvious that the Mikaelson family wouldn't let their daughter die for real, that they would fake her death to keep her out of danger."

Hope swallowed, making her gaze become blur again. Why hadn't she stayed sober? She couldn't think straight and Bradin's voice was more like a annoying sound of whispers.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

Bradin laughed, a heartless, dark laugh that made her shiver. "I know what you are, I know who you are and now that I've found you, me and the ancestors can complete the sacrifice."

Hope's heart stopped inside her chest when reality struck her. Bradin was a warlock! No wonder why he had asked her questions about her past, remembering that a baby Mikaelson had died and being so interested in who she was. How could she had been so stupid?

"You're wet," she repeated, feeling more dizzy. She couldn't think straight, she just wanted to close her eyes and fall asleep. Sleep for an eternity.

"You're coming with me," Bradin said before taking a strong grip around her arm, dragging her down from the counter.

"Let go of me," she said, but she was too drunk to be able to rip herself out of his grip. "You don't know what you're talking about."

Bradin stopped, but instead of letting her go, he smashed her up against the wall, making pain run through the back of her head. "You're the tribrid, if you complete your transition to a hybrid then it means the death to the witches."

Hope shook her head, it wasn't true. It was a lie that her grandmother Esther had come up with almost seventeen years ago so they would have a reason to kill her. But there was no way that he would believe her, so why even try?

"You're wet," she said again, making herself look down at his right wrist. He had a scratch there, making blood pour out of his vanes. She could smell it, it had an euphoric smell, she needed it. Her body wanted it and she knew it was now or never.

Suddenly her mind became clear, she finally saw the fear in Bradin's eyes. He was scared of her. What a mistake. The smell of his fresh blood made her feel sober again, everything she could focus on was to make him bleed even more, to drain him of it and not caring for the consequences.

She bit her lip, trying to make herself control her thirst, but it was too much. Bradin wanted to kill her and she knew that he would if he got her out of the house. Where most of the students now were outside to watch two guys fight in the pool on the backyard.

Then she realized, Bradin had caused a distraction so no one would notice him dragging her out of there.

"Let go of me," she repeated, but this time her voice was calm, yet hard and determined. "Or I will rip your heart out with my claws."

Bradin's eyes switched in fear, she didn't care. Instead she pushed him away from her with all her strength. His way of treating her had been enough.

Bradin stumbled back. "I'm a witch, I can make you feel more pain than you've ever felt before."

"I'm not afraid of dying," Hope said, making his eyes widen. "Besides, you already called me a tribrid, which means I'm part witch and I have some tricks of my own."

The next second, she had raised her hand on her sides, mumbled a couple of words and made the water on his clothes burn. She could hear his screaming when the fire reached his eyes, the fear in his ice-cold gaze, but she didn't care. She felt nothing.

It took quite a while before the people outside noticed the fire and before any of them had a chance to throw water or a blanket over the remainings of Bradin, he was already dead and Hope was gone.

She took a deep breath, letting the cold autumn air fill her lungs before letting it out again. She watched the stars upon heaven, what if people who died actually became stars and watched over them?

Hope shook her head, she had just made her first kill. She had killed Bradin and she didn't even feel anything because of it. His death had made her feel more powerful, he had been the one attacking her and still she didn't do anything to try and stop him from burning up. He hadn't even defended himself, because of what? Was he still so incapable of magic that he couldn't defend himself? Or was it just a trick from the older witches to see what she could do? Was he just a victim ready to be sacrificed for their own good?

But it had been the first time she had smelled blood, felt the craving for it. She had wanted it so bad, to taste it against her lips and drink until he didn't have any more to give. Still she had been able to control herself, her sober-self had been able to control her feelings instead of letting the monster inside of her burst out and drink the poor boy's blood.

Yet she now knew that she wouldn't be able to control herself much more, she now knew the scent of blood and how much she wanted it. How much she needed it. The witches wouldn't leave her alone until she was a hybrid, and even then they probably would try to get rid of her. She wouldn't let them, she had proved her point.

People started to walk out of the house, most of them sobbing or with shocked looks in their faces. None of them had been able to believe that one of them would get burned to death. Summer, Sly and Trip would be devastated, they had known Bradin since they had been in kindergarten together. But she didn't feel sympathy for them, Bradin had wanted to sacrifice her, she had done what she had to to stay alive.

"There you are," Trip said as he approached her. He had a unexplainable look on his face, his eyes empty and face spooky white. "D-did you hear? A-about Bradin?"

She nodded, hugging herself. "Did anyone see what happened?" She was afraid someone had seen her being in there with him. But she had only been there for a second, to make sure he wouldn't be able to get saved, before she had escaped the house by the kitchen door.

"No, but people think he fell asleep on the couch and somehow lit himself on fire with a candle," Trip explained. To her surprise he didn't sound too upset about Bradin's sudden death, did he know something? Or maybe she was just so exhausted that she didn't notice his real feelings, he was probably in shock and didn't know how to deal with it.

"Are you okay?" Hope asked with concerned voice, believe it or not, but she had grown to care about the blonde boy in front of her. She didn't know why, but he was different than the others, he was stronger and didn't give up on things he believed in. She was impressed.

"Yeah, surprisingly enough I feel fine," he said honestly. "I didn't know Bradin that well anyway, he almost never talked to me, only when Summer was around."

Summer! Hope felt a sudden impulse of sympathy going through her, Summer and Bradin had pretty much been together. They had had an on and off relationship ever since they were seven, or at least that had been what Sly had told her.

"Let me walk you home," Trip said when most of the cars and students were gone from the house. "Before the cops comes and ask us questions."

Hope nodded, not being sure about what to say. Trip didn't seem to care, because he started to walk toward the French Quarters. Kol was probably at home already, where her parents would be filled with anger because she had snuck out again.

But maybe they wouldn't care to punish her when she would tell them about Bradin and what he had said to her. Because he couldn't possibly be the only witch around, he had talked about his ancestors, who probably was looking for her as well.

She felt a bit scared, she had hoped that all the witches would be gone by now. That she would be safe and didn't have to be afraid to be sacrificed. She had been wrong, just as Klaus had been. But then again, how could anyone get rid of a bunch of angry witches anyway? She had learned a lot from her magic teacher about witches, they could be slightly unpredictable.

"Your phone is ringing," Trip said. Hope shook her thoughts out of her head and grabbed her phone from her jeans pocket.

Ten missed calls and fifteen new messages, her parents were definitely home by now.

"_Finally! Where are you?_" Hayley said with both relief and anger. "_Do you have any idea about how worried we have been? Kol just got home and he didn't know where you are because he lost you! How could you do this again and I swear that if you-_"

"Bradin died," Hope cut her mother off. She hadn't heard a single word her mother had just said.

"_Wait, what?_" Hayley asked, before her voice turned irritated and it sounded like she tried to hit someone. "_Shut up, Nik! Sorry, what did you just say, Hope?_"

Hope swallowed. "Bradin died, we were at a party and he fell asleep and somehow got himself set on fire."

"_Oh my god,_" Hayley exclaimed. "_Are you okay? Where are you? We can come and pick you up._"

"I am fine, seriously, I just want to walk for a while. I will be home within an hour."

She didn't bother wait for Hayley to answer before she ended the call and put her phone back into her pocket. She was completely sober again, how could the smell of blood make her head so clear again within seconds? She didn't understand.

"Everything okay?" Trip asked. He kicked a stone from the ground, it sailed across the street and hit the wall of a bar.

"Yeah, they were just wondering where I was," she answered. She could see the entrance to the compound already, but she wasn't ready to face them. They wouldn't know how to react with her when they met her, she didn't know what to say to them.

So instead of walked right home, she stopped and leaned toward the wall beside her. Trip had stopped walking too and leaned across from her against a wooden pillar.

"You're different, aren't you?" he said showing his hands down his pockets. "I mean, different from the human kind."

Hope's eyes widened, was he a witch too? She wouldn't be able to kill him, he was her friend. Her real friend, she wouldn't stand herself if she had to take his life too. She _needed_ him, he was the only person who made her feel human. The one person that made her believe in not only herself, but in others too.

She shook her head, already giving her away that he was right. She wasn't human, not anymore.

"Don't be afraid," he hurried to say and raised his hands as a defense. "I'm not here to either scare you or hurt you."

Hope swallowed. She didn't trust him. "What are you? A witch?" Trip shook his head. "A Werewolf? A vampire?"

There was no way that he could be human, or yes he could but that didn't seem likely since he had been the one to bring the subject up. Of course, he could be a hunter, but then he would probably had killed her already.

Trip smiled, shaking his head. "No, my mom was turned into a vampire last year, so I know everything about the supernatural things in this town."

"Oh," she gasped. It was the only thing she was able to say before clearing up her mind. "I'm sorry, I guess."

"It's okay," Trip said. "She's doing fine."

Hope nodded, not knowing how to pursue a conversation about stuff she didn't know that much about anyway.

"So what are you?" he asked, taking a step forward.

She contemplated not to tell him, but she had already given away that she was supernatural by not reacting in another way when he brought the subject up. "I'm a tribrid, which means I'm a witch and a hybrid. But my hybrid side hasn't been triggered yet."

"Sounds complicated," Trip smiled.

Hope frowned, looking away from his eyes. "You have no idea." She had thought that if people knew about her, they would be scared of her. Why wasn't Trip shaking his legs already, running away from her with fear in his eyes?

"Aren't you afraid of me?" she asked.

"Not really," he said. His head tilted to the side as he took slow steps toward her. Hope pushed herself as close to the wooden wall as she managed. "Otherwise I couldn't do this."

He looked her in the eyes, he could see that he was nervous, just like she was. Sure, she had kissed a lot of boys before but she had never really meant a kiss. She had never had a real boyfriend, only hook-ups and friends that happened to be boys that she now and then could make out with. She didn't really believe in love.

Trip closed the gap between their lips, kissing her with a gentle touch. His hand reached up to cup her cheek and by the touch of his hand she allowed herself to kiss him back. Her mind became dizzy, she didn't know how to keep herself on her feet, so she tied her arms around his neck, dragging him closer toward her.

Trip let his hands down her sides, taking a grip around her hip. It was a kiss she had never experienced before, a kiss with meaning. It was slow, simple but perfect, she felt like she didn't need anything else than this. And it scared her.

It was the clue to bring her back to the present. What was she doing? Why would she kiss her friend? Let alone Trip? Immediately she broke away from the kiss with her eyes wide open. This wasn't love.

"I-I'm sorry, I-" she didn't know what to say, she didn't regret it and yet she felt like she did. She shook herself out of his embrace and walked past him, inhaling the cold air into her lungs. "What was that?"

"A kiss, I believe," Trip said. He didn't sound hurt because of her reaction, but she could read in his eyes that he was.

"Look, I need to go, figure stuff out. I've got so much going on right now and I have to clear my head."

Before he had a chance to answer, she had ran across the street and entered the compound. That couldn't happen again, not ever.


	9. Long Time no see, Love

**Just a small hint, if you're not a fan of Klaroline - then I suggest you don't read the end of this chapter, but if you are - then enjoy ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 9 – Long time no see, love**

**Klaus' POV:**

Death, what a pathetic excuse of an ending. If humans only knew there was a way to cheat death, of course not for an eternity, but for something that felt like forever. Klaus didn't fear death, but he did his best to avoid it.

When his daughter arrived home he didn't know how to react, she had once again disobeyed his wishes, which was something he didn't take rather well. If it had been someone else, he would have made sure the mistake wouldn't be repeated, but with her it was different. If he did allow himself to punish her then he wouldn't be any better than Mikael. Although Hayley's idea of punishment didn't seem to make any difference with Hope, considering she hadn't really cared for being grounded the last time.

"You killed him?" Klaus asked, he wasn't sure if he should be ashamed or proud of her killing that boy Bradin. Of course, it had been for self-defence, but still.

"Yes," Hope answered. She licked her lips and hugged her legs tighter like she wasn't sure how to make herself comfortable in the situation. "He told me something before he died though."

Elijah straighten up and listened with a tense gaze. None of them had started screaming at Hope for her sneaking out again, not even Hayley. Though Klaus could feel her anxiousness from across the living room.

"He said the witches still are after me, they're trying to find me and sacrifice me," Hope said.

Hayley gasped for air, just like the other people in this silly room, she had thought they had got rid of the witches in this area a long time ago. Looked like Hope's appearance had drawn them back with another wave of lies.

"What should we do?" Rebekah asked when no one said anything.

"Find the witches and make sure no one of them will ever harm us again," Klaus said as it wasn't a subject to discuss.

"Good luck with that," Hope sighed. "You've already tried that and obviously it didn't work, besides, I'm pretty sure they only used Bradin to seek me up and to figure out what I am capable of."

Klaus bit his lip, looking around the room not to crush the glass of bourbon he held in his hand. This made him furious, never that there would be any peace around the Quarter, he felt stupid to believe that this actually would be safe for his daughter. Though, he wasn't ready to sacrifice this city and his kingdom for her just yet, he had worked more than anything to make this a place to call home.

He felt Elijah's gaze at him, which he decided to ignore, his brother had always been very overprotective for the things he cared for. Even as a child.

"Why don't we just get rid of their tries to sacrifice me already?" Hope said getting up to her feet. He was impressed with his littlest wolf, she had shown herself more brave than any other living creature he had come across. And still she was only human, with a little bit of witchcraft inside of her.

"What do you mean, exactly?" Elijah asked showing one of his hands down his pocket.

Hope sighed, throwing her hands up in the air. "I'm about to turn seventeen, I think I'm old enough to make my own decision whether or not to become a hybrid, which by the way seems to be the only thing stopping the witches from killing me."

Klaus smirked, her determination was fascinating, it made him believe that no one would have the guts to stand up against her. She was strong, beautiful and intelligent, just like he had hoped for her to be.

"I agree with my littlest wolf, of course it would be the best to let her become the hybrid she wants to be."

"No way!" Hayley exclaimed. "She is too young for such huge decision."

"This conversation again?" Rebekah sighed. "The last hundred times we have discussed this, we haven't gotten anywhere!"

Elijah stepped forward from behind the armchair. "Surprisingly enough I have to agree with my brother and niece. The witches wouldn't have a reason to sacrifice her if she complete the transition to a hybrid. Of course Hope must be sure about her decision."

Hope nodded with lowered head and a smile on her face. Klaus felt proud of her, of course he didn't want her to become the same monster he was, just as he had been protective with Marcel. But this was different, Hope wanted to become stronger, she wanted to take care of herself and Klaus knew that she would do as she wished whether they liked it or not.

"I can't believe this," Hayley said shaking her head. "She is just a child!"

"To be fair," Klaus said before emptying his glass of bourbon. "She would only be human for another year before her craving for blood would be too much for her to bear."

"Are you sure about this, Hope?" Rebekah asked her. "It's much to handle."

Hope met Bekah with a calm look. "I'm not afraid."

"Good, then we're settled, her transition will take place after her birthday," Klaus said without giving any of them a chance to say otherwise.

Hayley didn't make a gesture of protest, instead she stood up and gave Hope a kiss on her forehead. "Time to go to sleep, little one."

"Alright, goodnight," Hope sighed.

She gave Klaus a discreet smile before walking past him toward the stairs. He made sure to listen to her every step she took as she entered her bedroom on the top floor before he turned toward his brother.

"I'm surprised you actually did agree with me, brother."

"That makes two of us," Elijah answered with a deep sigh. Hayley shook her head and rushed past Elijah without as much as a look at him, of course that made his forehead go into deep wrinkles.

"Trouble in paradise?" Klaus asked as he poured another drink of bourbon.

"She hasn't been herself lately", Elijah answered. "More anxious, paranoid and unpretentious."

"I'm sure she will come around." Klaus smiled, he was happy with his victory. The most heathen subject in the compound had been when Hope could trigger her hybrid side, at least now he could stop worrying about the witches wanting to kill her.

"I presume you know something?" Elijah asked with suspicious voice. "What is it that you aren't telling me, brother?"

"Nothing to worry about, Elijah," Klaus said before walking toward his brother. "She will tell you eventually."

Klaus was just about to pass Elijah when he took a firm grip around Klaus' arm. "Tell me, Niklaus."

Klaus looked into Elijah's desperate eyes, it was too amusing. He laughed, a heartless, enjoying laugh before taking a step back. "Jealous because she hasn't told you?"

Elijah's gaze went all over the room, everywhere else but meeting Klaus' eyes. Rebekah still sat on the couch, watching her brother's interaction with curiosity. It had been a while since the two of them had shared a conversation about something else than Hope or the Quarters.

"Told me what?" Elijah asked.

"She has been visiting the newest werewolves in town," Klaus said. "Getting to know them, found interest in one of the wolves if I recall it right."

"Nik!" Rebekah couldn't handle her brother's behavior as Elijah's noble face reflected in sadness mixed with anger and surprise before getting back to its palm appearance.

"You're lying," Elijah exhaled, not believing what Klaus said.

"Am I now?" Klaus said before taking a step closer to his brother. "You know I'm right, your noble disguise can't hide your real feelings now, can it brother?"

Elijah took a rough grip around the collar of Klaus' shirt and pushed him up against the wall, making the whole building shake. Klaus dropped his glass of bourbon on the floor, causing it to go into thousands of pieces.

He frowned. "Touched a nerve, have I?"

"You are so impulsive, Niklaus. You don't seem to care about what anyone else feel or how they could react by your way of telling them something," Elijah said. "Don't you have any moral, self-control or sympathy?"

Klaus' smile faded from his face, this was enough. He couldn't stand anyone telling him what he was or what he should do. Not even his siblings. He had made an exception with Hope, only because he was able to control himself with her and not let the demons do the job for him.

He pushed away his brother's grip from his shoulders. "Enough with all of this!"

"No, Niklaus!" Elijah shot back. "I believed you would change when Hope arrived, I put my trust in her hands that she would make you a better person. But this is too much, I can't handle it. Not anymore, your selfishness has gone too far that it won't only hurt your siblings or Hayley anymore, but also your daughter!"

"So it's my fault the little wolf pays interest in another man instead of you?" Klaus asked. "This has nothing to do with me or my self-preservation. You're just mad because Hayley won't love you!"

"Nik-"

"Stay out of this, Bekah," Elijah warned her with his hand pointed at her.

Klaus faced his brother, giving him a look that told him he should back off. "Why don't you go and talk to Hayley instead of shouting at me? My relationship with my daughter is something between me and her, it has nothing to do with either of you."

Elijah eyed him, trying to find something to answer him, but he stayed speechless before speeding out of the living room. Klaus stood still, with his face empty. He usually didn't care for Elijah's opinion of him, his trying of making Klaus' redemption by bringing things to love into his life. He hadn't succeeded yet, although Klaus unwillingly did feel love for his creature of a daughter. Maybe Elijah was right, that Hope could be his redemption after all.

He shook his head before making the exit from the living room even though he could feel his little sisters gaze in his back. He needed some fresh air, so he found himself standing on the balcony staring at the fountain in the middle of the courtyard that Elijah had been stubborn to build. He had insisted to make the place more modern and renovated at least half of the building.

This family was falling apart, this time more than ever, their decisions regarding Hope would tear them apart. He knew that and he knew that Hayley knew it. She and him had talked a lot lately, about her and what they should do to make things work. They tried, but his duty as the king of the Quarters took a lot of his time.

Elijah, Rebekah and Kol was of course there for them, but it wasn't their responsibility to make sure Hope would find her peace. It wasn't an easy job, not for any of them. If they continued like this it would mean the end of their family and he couldn't let that happen. His family meant more than anything else to him, even more than his position as the king.

Of course he wasn't ready to let that go yet, not now when he just had got it back. But he believed that if he was put in a position to choose between the French Quarter and his family, he would choose them.

Hope being here had meant a huge difference for all of them, they hadn't as much time for themselves anymore and they were blaming each other for her mistakes. She didn't make it easy for them, but Klaus didn't blame her for it. He couldn't allow himself to do it, they were the adult ones in this family and it was their responsibility to make things work. Not hers.

"Nik," Kol called from behind. Klaus dug his nails into the dark wood of the balcony railing.

"Leave me alone, Kol. I'm not in the mood of a chat," he said without turning around. His annoying brother always knew when to make an entrance.

"You're in a good mood," Kol said before leaning against the railing beside him.

"What do you want?" he growled.

"Nothing much, I just wanted you to know that I might have found someone that would cheer you up in this dark days of yours, of course if you don't want my help I will leave you alone with your brooding thoughts."

Klaus gave him a tired look. "I'm not up for any of your games, Kol."

"It's not a game, big brother," Kol said amused. "I come bearing gifts."

"Whatever it is that you're up for this time, it can wait."

"I believe otherwise," Kol said standing in Klaus' way before he had a chance to escape.

Klaus searched his baby brother's eyes for something that would give him away that this was a joke. He had no interest of doing as Kol said, his plans often ended up as a failure anyways, what made him believe that this would be any different?

"Fine, what is it?" Klaus said when Kol didn't seem to give up his exited news.

Kol smirked and did a gesture toward the entrance of the compound. "Come on out, darling."

Klaus turned his gaze toward the iron doors without showing himself exited, because he wasn't, he was tired and he would rather go up to his bedroom and sleep his anger off him than see any of Kol's stupid surprises.

But this time he actually did manage to surprise Klaus. His heart skipped a beat inside his chest, it was like every single thought of being angry disappeared into thin air. He felt no reason of being mad at anyone when he saw the angelic person coming toward him on the courtyard. He had thought he would never see her again, that her existence wouldn't matter to him anymore.

She was beautiful, just like always, dressed in her normal denim jeans with a jacket and top. Her curly blonde hair fell loosely over her shoulders, making her blue-green eyes appear more soft. She looked even more beautiful than he had seen her last time, over seventeen years ago when he had promised her never to come to Mystic Falls again. The memory made him smile.

"Caroline," he exhaled making himself resist the impulse of immediately jumping down from the balcony to face her.

"Hi," she said shyly.

* * *

"So, what have you been up to the last decade, love?" Klaus asked. He kept his hands linked behind his back as they walked together at the streets in the French Quarter. It was an amazing city at night, with people from all across the world coming forward to attend the late night events. It was one of the main reasons why he enjoyed the town as much as he did.

"Well, after graduating from the Whitmore College, which by the way also included a lot of studying even though I had hoped it wouldn't," Caroline told him with enthusiasm, "I said goodbye to Elena and Stefan, who nowadays actually are married and situated somewhere in New Jersey with Jeremy and his girlfriend and I went travelling around Europe."

"You did, huh?" Klaus smiled. "Let me guess, the Eiffel tower was bigger than you expected?"

Caroline laughed, which sounded like music to his ears. It was unbelievable to him that she actually was here. He hadn't thought about her that much the last couple of years, of course he still remembered her every now and then, but he had been too focused on finding Hope and the Quarter to actually think about her.

Now that she was here, he wanted to know everything that she had done, her hopes, her dreams. Everything. Though he felt a little disappointed that she had decided to visit Europe without him.

"To be honest, yes, it looked much smaller in the brochure," Caroline joked.

"What are you doing in New Orleans, then sweetheart?" he asked, looking at her in the corner of his eye. He could feel her nervousness, it was obvious because she didn't look at him.

"I'm reading medicine, actually, in a college nearby," she explained with hesitation.

Klaus chuckled. "College?" He let out a sigh and let his gaze trail upwards until he could see the stars on the black sky. "How about Tyler? You must have a bunch of boys wanting your attention in school."

Caroline stopped to lean against the wall beside the small bar Kol eagerly visited daily. "I haven't seen Tyler for over ten years, I don't even know if he is alive. Besides, would I really come and visit you if I had a bunch of boys wanting my attention, as you put it?"

"Fair enough," Klaus said standing in front of her. He could smell her perfume from where he was standing, it made his stomach twist. Over seventeen years, and she still managed to take his breath away. At the same time that it made him feel pathetic, it made him want something more than only the Quarters and his family, it made him hope.

"So how about you then?" Caroline asked. "No women around craving for your attention?"

Klaus couldn't resist himself for laughing for her way of asking him, she actually sounded like a kid getting candy for christmas. "Well besides for my sister, there is one."

Her reaction was unexplainable, it was like all of her expectations had taken away from her and everything that was left was her breath hanging in the air.

"I didn't believe you were capable of loving anyone," she said, swallowing to get a hold on her voice.

"Neither did I, love," he admitted. This was very funny to him, to see her sort of jealous look when she actually thought he was in love with a woman. To be fair, he actually was, with the girl he was father to.

He could have let her suffer longer, but that would only make her more angry when she found out the truth.

"Who is she?" Caroline asked, forcing herself a smile.

"My daughter."

"Wha- … _Oh my god_, you're sick! I thought you meant- … I will kill you!" Caroline stepped forward while trying to hide her shame, luckily for her being a vampire, her cheeks didn't turn read otherwise she would blush more than ever before.

Klaus laughed at her reaction, it was ridiculous. "Don't blame me, love. You're the one blushing."

"Shut up," she muttered when she calmed down by taking a deep breath. "I can't believe you have a daughter, I heard she died?"

"It was a diversion for the witches that were after her, actually," he explained with a low voice, worried that someone could hear them. "We just got her back after fifteen years in hide-out."

"Wow, that sounds complicated."

"It has its ups and downs," he admitted, looking anywhere else but into her eyes. Talking about his teenaged daughter with her wasn't anything he had seen coming.

"How is she?" Caroline asked without hesitation. "Is she attending school? Having any friends?"

Klaus raised his eyebrows. "Are you really interested in my daughter's life?"

"I'm asking, am I not?"

"She is … detemited, smart, beautiful and very stubborn," Klaus explained. He realised it was the first time he actually understood how much he cared for Hope, she was his daughter, no one elses. It was his blood that ran through her vanes. "She won't let anyone tell her what to do."

Caroline smiled at him. "Sounds like her father."

"I guess."

They stayed silent for a moment, watching the people on the street laugh around and watching the parade that someone had decided to have as an event this day.

"You should consider yourself lucky," Caroline finally broke the silence. She was leaning against the wall again, not looking at him. "Having the chance to at least have one child."

Of course, she was upset because vampires couldn't procreate. A lot of vampires felt the same way as her and he couldn't find a reason to blame her. Caroline was a wonderful, young woman and she probably had a lot of reasons why she didn't want to be a vampire. Although the biggest one have to be this one, and to be honest it didn't surprise him.

"I know," he said, taking a step toward her. "I'm reminding myself every day."

She nodded. "Would you do it again? This must sound really weird for you but, would you consider ever having another kid?"

Klaus blinked a few times, he hadn't thought about it. Sure it had crossed his mind as he had found out it was possible for him, but never that he would have considered making another one. There was nothing wrong with Hope, she was the one being he loved with his whole heart, but if another child meant the witches coming after it, then he wouldn't be able to put the child thought that kind of misery.

"I haven't thought about it," he said truthfully. He knew how much honesty meant for both of them. "I missed Hope's whole childhood, I know nothing about raising a child."

"Her name is Hope?" Caroline smiled. "Beautiful name."

Klaus took a deep breath, he needed to change the subject, talking about children made his mind turn into a blur. Not that her reaction regarding Hope made him feel insecure, on the contrary to be honest, but it scared him a bit. What if she had some sort of ulterior motive behind her questions?

"Not that I enjoy our small talk, love, but what is the real reason for you seeking me up?" he asked, it had been on his mind ever since Kol brought her to him from that party he had visited with Hope.

"Is there something you want?"

He didn't want to sound suspicious, but his voice didn't make it believable. Caroline's eyes switched in fear, letting him know that her being here wasn't totally harmless.

"Don't you think this is incredible weird for me?" she shouted, making Klaus take a step back in surprise. "God, Klaus! It has been seventeen years since I saw you for the last time, all of my friends are either dead or have their own lives. I have tried to keep myself occupied, but still I found myself applying to a college in New Orleans! New Orleans, of all cities, Klaus!" She started pacing back and forth in front of him, dragging her hand through her hair. "I just wanted a normal life, with usual college flings and making my own mistakes and having friends I could tell my embracing secrets to! But I can't think of any of them, all of my thoughts brings me back to you!"

"Caroline-"

"No, let me finish!" she cut him off. "All of my friends have moved on, Elena and Stefan are living happily ever after, Matt is married and has two kids and Bonnie and Damon are dead! I seem to be the only one not being able to move on from what happened seventeen years ago! I've tried to keep my mind of it, but it keeps coming back to me. And I thought that if everyone else have gotten over it, then why don't I do the same?"

Caroline breathed out, letting all of the air from her lungs disappear before leaning back against the wall. She looked exhausted, yet her heart didn't pound as effective as before. She seemed relaxed, like all of her problems had been lifted from her shoulders.

Klaus usually didn't let himself feel either surprised or confused, but her sudden impulse of pour her heart out to him made him feel both. She never failed to impress him, this must have taken her a lot of sleepless nights to get her mind through. He couldn't even imagine what kind of bravery she had had to gather before meeting him and telling him all of this.

Klaus licked his lips, allowing himself to take a step toward her. "I understand this must be rather confusing to you., sweetheart"

"Really?" Caroline exhaled. "Because I just felt like I've had a competition in who-talks-the-fastest and pouring-out-all-of-your-patheric-feelings."

At least she hadn't change.

"And now, seeing you like this," she made dramatic gestures around her, "in this city and with a daughter you actually seem to care about. I can't stop myself for allowing me to … to … forgive you. Or at least considering looking past everything since everyone else seem to do it."

Klaus didn't really understand where she wanted to come with her confession, had she actually forgiven him for all the so-called horrible things he had done toward her friends in Mystic Falls? If that was the real reason why she had found him, then he wouldn't know how to react. In the same way as it made him exited, it also made him pretty damn scared.

He hadn't been able to allow himself for actually hoping for her to turn up on his doorstep one day, and if she decided to do it he had thought it would be in a couple of centuries. Not only almost two decades later.

"What are you saying, love?" Klaus asked, taking another step forward, reaching his hand toward her hair to stroke it behind her ear. If she hadn't been a vampire, he could have bet on that she was blushing. "Are you really ready to give up on your hopes and dream of becoming a normal student at college? Ready to commit yourself to something more adult and dangerous than you have ever experienced? Because as I told you before, I will wait for you, no matter how long it takes."

He searched in her eyes for something that would make her break, but couldn't find anything else than the girl he had seen the last time. Always so independent, self-secure and proud. She was the second most beautiful person he knew, with the exception for his own daughter.

Caroline swallowed, breaking their eye contact to watch the parade on the street. People cheered, screamed and laughed everywhere, it was an fantastic feeling to know all of these people only were there to celebrate and have fun. He loved this place, he had done it ever since he had put his foot here all these years ago, and he would probably do it for the rest of his eternity of life. But it wouldn't matter if he hadn't the people he cared about around him, thereby his family and the woman he allowed himself to show his weakness to. Love is after all a vampire's greatest weakness.

Caroline took a deep breath. "Yes, I am ready."

With those words he crashed his lips into hers, not letting her give in for a second. His hand cupping his cheek, while the other one searched comfort on the wall beside her head. It did indeed take her a while before she understood what was happening and allowed herself to respond to his kiss. She wrapped her hands around his neck, dragging him even closer to her. Feeling her body against his made him shiver, it had been over a thousand years since he had kissed anyone like this.

With such passion, meaning every movement he made with his lips and tongue. It was new to him, exiting and even a bit terrifying. But he enjoyed every second as he could taste Caroline's lips against his, inhaling the scent of her wonderful perfume and feeling how much she also gave in to this.

Ironically enough, he did feel like a college slash high school boy, since they were making-out in public with screaming teenagers all around them. But he didn't care, all he wanted was to make sure to never let her go again.

* * *

**Okay, so I know the conversation between Klaus and Caroline is a bit ... weird, pathetic and unreliable. But I wrote this in the middle of the night, I was tired and just needed to finish it. So I'm sorry! But to be fair, I believe something like this could happen, considering it has been over 15 years since they last met. Well once again, sorry if you didn't like it. I'm not proud of it, if it makes you feel any better ...**


	10. The Things I Hate

**Chapter 10 – The things I hate**

Hope stared at the ceiling in her room. Making her brain inhale every single corner of the room and then gazing back at the bedroom door. It was almost five in the morning and she couldn't sleep, she had actually been awake for at least two hours already. Listening to the sound of the rain that hit against her window, which Klaus now had sealed with a lock from the outside to make sure she wouldn't sneak out again. On Hayley's demand, of course.

It was weird, thinking back at her life a month ago when she stumbled around on the streets of New York only to find something to eat. Now, she was living around vampires and werewolves with a huge family that claimed they cared for her. She had to admit it, her life had made a huge turn. She hadn't even called Sam yet, who probably had either taken his life of anger or got a heart attack for worrying about her.

She had wanted to call him, but didn't really find an excuse for leaving New York. What was she supposed to tell him anyway? That she now was living in a town filled with vampires and that her family was trying to make up their mind to make her a hybrid or not? No, she couldn't do that to him, it was for the best that she just disappeared from his life anyway.

Speaking of boys, she had done an extraordinary good job with avoiding Trip lately. He had both called and texted her, which she had declined every time. Why couldn't people just leave her alone? She was used to it and not having people around her shooting questions at her from every corner.

She let out a sigh, moving her gaze toward the second door in her room, the door she hadn't managed to open yet no matter how many times she had tried. This family frankly drove her mad, no one knew what they wanted and all of their opinions was based on anger. Did they actually believe that after their rough past, it would be a good idea to raise a daughter? And that it would happen without pain or consequences?

Hope sighed before throwing the sheets away from her and getting up to her feet. Dressed in her black, running shorts and a hoodie, she tip toed down the stairs toward the kitchen. If there was something she had learned, it was that the food in this house was always fresh and with a huge pile of options. And since Hope both liked exercising and eating, she found herself harmlessly eat as much as she wanted.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw a big silhouette standing beside the counter as she walked into the kitchen. Fast, she grabbed the broom that was beside the door and turned on the lights.

"I warn you, you big ass fat- … oh, it's you. What the hell are you wearing? It's the middle of the night, do you sleep in _that_?"

Elijah turned his gaze at her, with a coffee cup in one of his hands and the other one resting on the counter beside him. "Language, Hope. And what are you doing with that broomstick?"

Hope looked down at the broom in her hands before she pointed with it at Elijah. "Well, I was planning on hitting you in the head with it, but since it's so early I changed my mind." She smiled before putting down the broomstick on its usual place. "So, about your clothes."

Elijah didn't seem to catch why she was so surprised by his outfit, including a pair of suit pants and a buttom-up shirt. It was five in the morning, who wore that kind of clothes at that time? Elijah, of course, because he was all noble and stuff. But still.

"I never went to sleep," he answered, making Hope nod and feeling dumb for her impulsive choice of question. She should have seen that coming, considering what kind of family they were. "Now, what are you doing up so early?"

"I couldn't sleep," she shrugged. She walked around the table and pulled up the refrigerator door. She could just eat a sandwich, but she wasn't in the mood, so she just closed the door again without taking anything out of it.

"Is everything okay?" Hope asked when she saw Elijah's wrinkled forehead.

He turned his eyes to hers. "Depends on how you define okay."

Hope raised her eyebrows, this would probably be a deep talk. "Okay, tell me what's on your brooding mind before you think yourself to death."

"Always a level of sarcasm," Elijah sighed. He put down the cup of coffee on the table beside him before meeting her eyes. "There is something I can't quite understand."

Hope raised her eyebrows as a gesture for him to continue.

"You said you didn't feel anything when you killed that boy, and I was wondering if it has something to do with your hybrid side. As a vampire you can turn off your emotions, but since you haven't completed your transition yet, it wouldn't be possible."

"So, you're saying that I'm a freak," Hope said. "Relax, I'm only kidding. The truth is I don't care about anything, whatever happens – happens and I can't do anything about it. But I know that in that exact moment when I saw Bradin in the eyes and decided to lit him on fire, I felt a wave of rage come over me. I couldn't control it, everything I could think about was to kill him. To see his last breath and the light of his eyes disappear. No regrets."

Elijah didn't show any sign of what he was thinking about, he was probably scared of her now. She was kind of scared of herself, she hadn't been able to stop herself from killing Bradin. But the worst part must be that she didn't feel anything. Not regret, not sadness, nothing. All she could think about was the satisfaction that he no longer was a threat.

"I think we've got a problem," Elijah finally said after being silent for a long while.

"What do you mean? So, you people get to kill _whoever _you want, but the second I even _think_ about it – it's the end of the world? Come on, give me a break!" She jumped down from the chair and threw her hands in the air. She was no better than them and she didn't want to be.

"You're only sixteen!"

"Seventeen tomorrow and since when does age make a difference anyways? Listen to me, I will become a hybrid tomorrow, whether you like it or not. End of discussion."

She turned around and walked out of the was the thing that he had been so worried about? That she killed people? Who cares? Everyone would die someday anyways, life was pathetic. This level of drama was almost too much for her, they were adults for god's sake! Couldn't they stop treating her as a child already?

Elijah walked after her and reached out an arm to stop her before she had any chance to run up the stairs back to her room. She gave him a dark look and took a step backwards. She wouldn't let anyone control her, not even Elijah.

"You're so blind that you don't even see how your choices affect your family, let alone your own mother who is devastated because of what is happening to this family! This kind of selfishness reminds me of Niklaus' way of behaving before you came in to the picture, and I want it to stop before you hurt anyone else, especially Hayley."

"My way of behaving is my own concern, not _yours _or my mother's!"

"See, that's where you're wrong, Hope! You might be used to make your own decisions, but you have a family now! A family who would do anything for you, stop acting like a child!"

"You're the ones treating me like a child!"

Hope clenched her fists and stared into her uncle's eyes. She was furious with him, but not because he was telling her what to do. But because the words that he said were the truth. _She_ wanted to be the one to be right, what would be the fun with this otherwise?

"What do you want me to say?" Hope suddenly sounded tired, she relaxed her fingers and leaned back at the wall beside the staircase. Her head was spinning, she had had trouble sleeping the last couple of days. She just wanted to shut her eyes and never open them again, never have to think about anything else than sleeping. It felt so nice. "That this is working? Because that would be a lie and I don't do well with lies."

Elijah's face expression went from angry and hard to calm and empathetic. He knew this was hard for her, just like for everyone else.

"You can't have both," Hope slowly said, shutting her eyes and breathing heavily. "You can't have both me and the Quarters. I'm the one tearing this family apart, but let's be honest, it wouldn't be different if I wasn't here. You all would live as ghosts around this place, facing each other with nothing else than a mask. This isn't a place for a family reunion and you know it as well as I do."

She had been thinking about it, what if they settled down somewhere else? Somewhere they could be a normal family and not have to care about the vampire's safety, the werewolves to make a move on them or the witches to find them? If the only thing they would have to care about was their own health and trust? It might work, but not like this.

Sooner or later this family would be torn apart, they would stare each other down and fall down one by one until there was only one person left. And that person wouldn't be able to live with itself and then it would be to late.

"We will have to talk to the rest of our family members," Elijah stated when he let the words of Hope sink into him. "It won't be easy, you know."

"Yeah," Hope sighed. "I know."

"Remind me to never agree to this again," Hope said before she reach out to the table and moved one of her pieces. Elijah smiled when he moved his piece to the place she had put hers and took it in his hand. Playing chess with her noble uncle this early in the morning wasn't the most wise choice she had ever made.

"I have a thousand years of experience, don't be too hard on yourself," Elijah said amused.

"You sound like your brother, and I'm referring to the exaggerated, overenthusiastic, alcoholic-wannabe, immature and energetic one."

Elijah chuckled and watched her in the corner of his eyes. "Fancy adjectives?"

"I write a lot," Hope shrugged.

Elijah raised his eyebrows. "Like a diary?"

Hope snorted with a wide smile. "Of course not! I'm not some sort of depressive barbie or anything. No offense, I know you write daily updates in your leather covered books."

"You would be surprised with what kind of difference you can make with your life with only a couple of words written on a piece of paper." He moved his queen and looked at Hope again. "By writing what you're feeling you can get yourself out of depression."

"I know, I've tried it and it worked. I'm only being the sarcastic person that I am," Hope answered like it wasn't a big deal.

"You've been depressed?" Elijah sounded surprised as he leaned back in the chair.

"Yeah? So what? Almost every kid these days are." She smiled in victory as she managed to take his queen. "Ha!"

"How did you get out of it? Did you talk to someone?"

"Like that would help? Come on, a teenager doesn't care about anything else but herself, talking to someone would only make it more depressing. If you ask me, all you have to do is to take the first step. Which happens to be to stop feeling sorry about yourself, if you keep thinking that '_Oh my god, poor me, why me, what did I do to deserve this?'_then you won't get anywhere! Trust me, I have a lot of experience."

"So you stopped feeling sorry about yourself?" Elijah asked. "How?"

"I changed my way of seeing things," Hope explained. "Like, every time something bad happened to me, I wouldn't allow myself to start crying over it and think about what would have happened if I had made another choice. I can't change what I've done, simple as that. You either let it eat you up or you get over it. That's why I can't stand people who feels sorry about themselves, it's stupid."

It was the truth, she didn't feel sorry about herself if she failed with something. Of course things scared her and she could have second thoughts, but she never regretted anything. No matter how dark it seemed, she wouldn't let herself back down. Feeling sorry about yourself only make things worse, it won't get better if you cry yourself to sleep at night thinking that you're stupid or you could have done something another way.

"So, what's up with you and my mom anyways?" Hope continued. She had had enough talk about depression, it made her mind go into thinking-mode.

Elijah choked like he had swallowed too big piece of meat. "What do you mean?"

"Isn't it obvious? You two are like made for each other, don't let me stand in the way for you. Klaus thinks you're ridiculous for not making a move on her yet."

"He has said that?" Elijah questioned. He was apparently not aware of his baby brother's thoughts about their relationship.

"Not in so many words, but I know that's what he thinks."

Elijah didn't believe her, she could tell by the way he was looking at her, like he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Come on, you two should so get together already. You drive me crazy when you're both in the room. It's like a tension of awkwardness."

"You really do like to use words, don't you?" Elijah sighed and turned toward the chessboard again.

"Yes. And it helps me a lot, checkmate!" Hope smiled and grabbed Elijah's king from the board. Elijah's expression was unable to explain, he looked like a child who didn't get what he wanted for Christmas, on the line of either crying or screaming.

"Wha- … Did you just … "

Hope laughed louder than she had done in a while. "You should see your face!"

"You distracted me!" he accused her. "That's cheating."

"No it's not!"

"Yes."

"Nope, you're just grumpy because you got beaten by a girl."

"I am not."

"Yes, you are."

"Sod off," he mumbled.

"I heard that," Hope pointed out. "Language, uncle Elijah."

He shot her a killing gaze before shaking his head like he didn't believe he had lost. To be fair, Hope had cheated her way into winning. She had changed the positions of the pieces when he hadn't looked at the table, talking about deep stuff always helped. She was kind of a natural at the subject already.

Of course she wouldn't tell him that, she was too satisfied with the fact that he thought he had lost.

"Speaking of bad language and stuff," Hope announced with a playful grin on her face. "Why are _you_ coming home so late?"

She looked at her father with an amusing gaze as he turned around after closing the door behind him. She could tell he was in a good mood, though, considering that he didn't give her on of his killing looks.

"Having a rough night, brother?" Elijah asked without looking at Klaus. He dragged his hand through his hair without taking his eyes off the chessboard. Hope almost felt sorry for the guy, just almost.

"On the contrary, Elijah," Klaus smirked and poured himself a drink from the table behind the couch. "You don't seem to be in the best mood, though."

"He lost in chess," Hope shrugged. "And now he believes his life is over."

Klaus laughed. Laughed! Hope wouldn't believe her eyes, what was happening?

"Are you high?" she asked her father with a serious voice. "You never laugh, not like that. What have you been taking?"

"Relax, sweetheart," Klaus said. He walked over to them and kissed her on the top of her head. "I've been out with a friend."

Hope wasn't convinced. "I thought you hadn't got any friends."

"Do you always have to know everything?" Klaus sighed and threw himself down in the sofa next to her chair.

"Yes, I'm a curious teenager, feel free to blame me," Hope said. "Now, tell me."

"She will get her way, brother. There is no use for resisting it," Elijah mumbled and covered his face with his hands. He really did look like it was his worst nightmare, which made it only harder for Hope not to tell him how she had managed to win.

"I met up with an old friend," Klaus explained. "Caroline Forbes, from Mystic Falls."

Hope's eyes flashed open, Kol had been complaining about Klaus' obsession with a girl from that town. But with her knowledge, she thought Caroline hated her father because of his selfish ways of acting.

"Wait, what?" she spit out. "She hates you."

Klaus turned his gaze towards her, obviously not keen on her choice of describing their relationship.

"Believe it or not, but she has decided to forgive me for all my actions," Klaus said with a smirk that meant that they had done more than just talked.

"That's the hint for me to get out of here before I get the images of reading _Fifthy Shades Of Grey _back into my head," Hope announced as she got up to her feet. "I believe it won't help me pass the math test I have today."

She winked her eyebrows at Klaus and patted Elijah on his shoulder, before running upstairs into her room. She hadn't really started studying to her mathtest yet, mostly because she didn't care about the geometry they were trying to be taught at the moment.

Her way of seeing school had changed a lot since she had gotten to New Orleans, she didn't have as much interest in it as before. Maybe because she unconsciously knew that she had a family that never would let her go now. A family that actually cared for her. But did they really care for her enough to let their kingdom fall?

Hope shook her head violently to get the dark thoughts out of her head, she wouldn't get anywhere by thinking like that anyways.

Instead she picked up her backpack from the floor of her room. It had only been about a month and her room was already a mess. Clothes, books and papers were lying everywhere and made it almost impossible to cross the room without touching it. Rebekah had told her to clean it up, which she stubbornly had decided to ignore considering that the rest of the house was cleaned by their compelled maid.

It wasn't fair to be the youngest one in the house, although she did understand their way of seeing it too. She had her responsibilities, though she didn't want to admit it sometimes.

After reading to the mathtest for about fifteen minutes, she slammed the book shut and threw it into her bag. It was no use for her to read, she couldn't concentrate because of the subject she and Elijah had been talking about.

There actually was one thing she wanted, besides from getting the family of this compound to actually become a family, and that was to move to the West Coast. She had thought about it through the last couple of years, that she would move to California the second she had enough money.

"Everything okay?"

Hope spun around to find her mother leaning against the door frame. She was dressed in a long, dark rope she always wore in the mornings at breakfast. It had actually turned out to work well their time together as a 'normal' family. The dinners and breakfasts weren't as stiff as they were at the beginning of their try to become a normal family.

"You tell me," Hope answered with hesitation. She had had trouble to bound with Hayley, at least if she compared it with her relationship with Klaus. She and him could talk about everything that came into their heads, it was easy with him. With Hayley she had some problem with how to act, like she didn't quite get how to get her mother to approve her as she was. She did know that Hayley loved her for the person she was, but to Hope it wasn't enough.

"What do you mean?" Hayley asked and took a step forward into her room.

"I don't know. I just- … It feels like the two of us don't really connect and I don't know why and it's making me go crazy and I- … Is it because I want to become a hybrid?"

Hayley shook her head with a sad smile covering her face. "Absolutely not, sweetie. I know you have to trigger it sooner or later, I just think you should wait a bit longer because of the long hybrid life you have ahead of you. But I do respect your choice and I will support whatever you decide to do, okay?"

Hope swallowed and nodded. She didn't really buy what her mother was telling her, something told her that Hayley still wasn't keen on her choice even though she said she supported her. Things wasn't as easy with her as it was with Klaus, and it sort of bothered Hope. Why couldn't everything just become easier for once?

"Now come on, let's get you some breakfast," Hayley said and led the way down to the kitchen. Hope picked up her backpack from the bed before following her to the kitchen, where they found Klaus and Elijah already sitting by the table. She didn't hesitate before sitting down next to Klaus with a deep sigh.

Hope noticed the awkwardness that spread between Elijah and Hayley at once their eyes met each others. And they were supposed to be the adult ones. The next moment, a very tired Kol walked into the kitchen with Rebekah shortly behind him.

"Oh look at this, the story of the awkward lovers continue," Rebekah said when she caught Elijah's look. "Can't you two just get on with it already? Before you stare each other down and take this compound with you?"

"It's none of your business, sister," Elijah spoke up with dark voice. Hope covered her face with her hands, this seriously tore her apart from the inside and out.

Before any of them had a chance to continue the argument of whether Elijah and Hayley would confess their love for each other or not, Hope got up to her feet and grabbed her backpack.

"I'm just gonna eat on the way to school," she said and picked up a muffin from the table. "Bye, see you later."

She hurried to exit the compound before anyone had a chance to stop her, she didn't want any of them to try and explain why they were acting so weird and completely insist that it had nothing to do with her. She wouldn't know, though, because she hadn't been around for the last fifteen years. What if it was all because of her that Hayley and Elijah wouldn't let themselves enjoy their lives? She couldn't bear the thought that was tearing her apart, she _actually _wanted the two of them to live happy. Even if is sounded kind of smooth for her.

Both Hayley and Elijah deserved it and she knew it because of the loss they both had suffered from. Believe it or not, but Hope did care a lot for her family and what they wanted. They had sacrificed a lot for her, and she wanted them to feel something more than the need to keep her safe.

"Something bothering you, lass?"

Hope raised her gaze to meet the eyes of a tall, middle-aged man wearing a black suit. He had dark-blonde hair and icy blue eyes. She tried not to flinch when the accent of his words spoke to her, it was the same kind of accent that the Mikaelson's were speaking.

"No, nothing," she lied and took a step backwards from the man. She was only halfway to school, at the short-cut she had found through a small alley. This time she really regretted for taking this way, because there was not another soul nearby except for her and the man.

As the man looked into her eyes, she noticed how his face turned into a grimace. Like he was disgusted with the sight he was seeing.

Hope felt her pulse heighten inside her chest as she clenched her fists. "Who are you?" She didn't want to sound frightened, but she failed not to. Her voice sounded weak, almost shaking.

The man smiled, a wide, joyless smile that made her shiver. "My name is Mikael and I believe you can help me kill my son."

* * *

*BOOM* cliffhanger! O.o Let me know what you think! Thank you! :)


	11. The Loss of our Soul

**Thank you guys so much for your kind respons! Srsly, already over 60 reviews! Amazing! **

**Second-to-last chapter. It's the longest one yet, hope you enjoy! :) Please leave a review at the end! **

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**Chapter 11 – The loss of our soul**

**Hayley's POV: **

Hayley scanned the living room to make sure she was alone. After the quick escape Hope had made that morning, Hayley had decided to try to make up her own mind. She and Elijah'd had a rough time, neither of them hardly spoke to one another and if they did it turned into a huge fight. It was all nonsense, they had fought before over silly things, but this time it didn't seem to have an end.

She didn't even know why he was angry with her, sure she had spent a lot of time with the new werewolves in town, but it had been completely harmless. She hadn't really enjoyed her time with them and the main reason for her to spend time with them had been because she wanted them gone from New Orleans before Klaus could get his hands on them.

She had succeeded to send them away, and now she spent every minute of every day doing nothing. She and Hope never spoke and if they did it wasn't much to brag about. They hadn't connected, just as Hope had said earlier. How could it be so easy for Klaus and Hope to get along? Klaus of all the people in the compound? She didn't get it.

"What's up with you? You look like someone just tore apart you favorite teddy bear," Rebekah pointed out without any sign of sympathy. She was carrying a box filled with dusty, old stuff in her arms.

"I think you know what's going on," Hayley replied.

"That you and the noble brother of mine can't get yourself some sweetness time? Please, Elijah is being the polite ass he can be sometimes. Don't worry, he will come around once he understands he can't hide forever."

"I'm just confused," Hayley explained. She and Rebekah had gotten along pretty well lately, talking about things that were on their minds.

Rebekah put the box down on the floor and walked over to the couch to sit down next to Hayley. If someone had told her fifteen years ago that Rebekah could be a great friend, then she would have laughed that person in the face. "Tell me what's bothering you."

"It's just that – one second Elijah tries to kiss me and the next he totally ignores me. I don't know what he wants and what to expect."

"Elijah has always been quite the secret himself," Rebekah sighed. "As before, I believe he is afraid Niklaus will get between the two of you. But now when that bitchy blonde vampire is back from Mystic Falls, I think Nik has enough on his mind."

"What shall I do?" Hayley asked, knowing how pathetic desperate she sounded. But she had to admit it, she was in love with Elijah and she didn't want to hide it anymore. If she wanted something, then she would fight for it.

Rebekah sighed and got back up to her feet. "No bloody idea. I've never understood Elijah's way of seeing things. Now if you'll excuse me, I will throw this in the cellar and make sure our lovely parents still are rutting down there."

She picked up the box from the floor and stepped out of the living room leaving Hayley by herself again. If Elijah couldn't find the courage to look her in the eye and tell her the truth himself, then she would have to do the dirty work for him. She had waited for over a decade for something to happen and now when they had the chance to finally find peace, then she wouldn't waste another minute waiting.

She decided to confront him the next time she saw him, no more waiting in the darkness and with thoughts and question without an answer. She needed to know if he wanted the same thing as she did, because otherwise she didn't see any reason to stay in New Orleans except for Hope. Which also didn't work out at the moment, maybe some time alone with her daughter could sort things out.

Klaus wouldn't become to keen on that thought though. He would probably slaughter her alive only to make such a suggestion. He was too eager with his own mind to even realize how the way of controlling this family was tearing them apart. She knew Klaus saw the end of them if they stayed in New Orleans, but how much would they have to sacrifice before they could move on from this place?

"Nik!"

Hayley could hear the voice of Rebekah from the courtyard, which made her heart skip a beat inside her chest. That voice only meant one thing - that something bad had happened.

She got up to her feet at the same moment as Klaus came running down the stairs. He gave her a fast look before exiting to the balcony and the courtyard with Hayley right behind him.

"What is it sister?" he asked with annoyance in his voice. He obviously didn't take his sister's scared voice on fully seriousness.

"Something has happened, I went down to the cellar to check on our parents. But I couldn't find them." Rebekah's eyes widen in fear when she told them about the bad news. Hayley took a strong grip around the balcony railing.

Klaus' gaze darkened, although Hayley could sense a wave of fear coming from him. "Are you sure?"

Rebekah nodded. "And another thing, I found the witch that was keeping them locked-up dead."

* * *

It didn't take long before Kol and Elijah entered the kitchen after Klaus had called them. This was worse than just the crazy Mikaelson parents escaping out of the blue, since they had Hope back. More than that, Hope was missing. It was five in the afternoon and she hadn't come home yet, Hayley had even called the school and they hadn't seen her all day.

"Do you think they have taken her?" Hayley asked with her voice breaking. "I won't lose her again."

"She is not answering her cellphone," Rebekah said and tossed her phone over the room. It hit the wall with a loud bang. "What shall we do? Who knows what the psychopathic father of ours have done to her?"

"I knew this would happen, we should have gotten rid of them ages ago!" Elijah said filled with anger.

"What if Hope just stays at a friends' house?" Kol suggested. "Or maybe she has ran away again?"

"Still doesn't change the fact that our parents are missing, Kol!" Rebekah spat. She ran her hand through her hair as a nervous reflection. "Besides, Hope always makes some sort of dramatic exit before she does something bad. I hardly believe she would run away again like the last time."

"What if she was the one to let our parents out?" Kol continued, causing his siblings and Hayley to glare at him. He threw his hands in the air while making a half circle around the table. "Think about it, she can't have forgiven you and if I was in her shoes I would like to get revenge. Don't forget that she is Nik's daughter."

Klaus eyes looked like they were burning of anger. The next second he had sprung over the room in Kol's direction, his fists clenched and fangs dropped out of his mouth. He looked like a miserable monster, with the vanes covering the lower part of his eyes and with the color of yellow covering his eyes.

Elijah jumped between them in the last second before Klaus had a chance to break his little brother's neck. Klaus flew through the kitchen and crashed into the wall, causing a huge hole appear where he had landed. Though he was soon on his feet again and in front of Kol with Elijah keeping them apart by holding out his arms between them.

"I will rip your throat out with my teeth right after I've staked Elijah," Klaus threatened, still with his hybrid face covering him.

"Again with the pathetic threats?" Kol pushed.

"Stop it, both of you!" Rebekah screamed. "We have bigger problems than your teenage drama."

"We do not have time for this," Elijah calmly spoke. "I agree with Rebekah, we have bigger problems to worry about."

"The more time we waste on fighting each other, the less time we will have to find our daughter," Hayley said. Her voice sounded desperate, just like her eyes looked when they found Klaus'. He clenched his teeth before taking a step back and letting his face turn back to normal.

"It's almost dark, I will have the nightwalkers scan the area," Klaus announced while putting on his leather jacket, his gaze still shooting bullets at Kol. "One of us should stay here in case Hope turns up."

"I can stay," Rebekah offered.

"Hayley and I will search the Quarters, if you see anything suspicious you call us," Elijah said and took a firm grip around Hayley's shoulder. "Nik and Kol tell the nightwalkers while Rebekah call Marcel."

Kol nodded and followed Klaus out of the kitchen, before Rebekah ran over the room to pick up her phone again and started to type in Marcel's number.

Hayley took a deep breath to steady her pulse, but it didn't make it better. She had met Mikael once, and she didn't want to do it again. She was afraid of what that man could do to make sure his bastard to a son would die. He could probably sacrifice Hope for Niklaus' death and she wouldn't let that happen.

"Are you okay, Hayley?" Elijah said with a smooth voice. He was trying to comfort her, but it didn't work. She had one thing on her mind, and that was to save her daughter. No matter what it would take.

"Let's find my daughter."

* * *

**Hope's POV:**

She had been dreaming such a nice dream. It had been without any worry or pain. All she had to do was breathe and make sure she was happy. She had smiled, even laughed and meant every single thought of happiness that had filled her brain. Her family had been there, her real family. Kol had made Rebekah angry by telling her that she looked like a soaking wet cat in the blue dress she was wearing. Though everyone knew she had looked stunning. Elijah and Hayley had been married, both with huge smiles on their faces and without as much as a thought of fighting. Klaus hadn't killed anyone, on the contrary, he had actually saved a little boy's life from being killed by a bus.

It had felt so real for a moment, almost like it had happened in reality. But when she opened her eyes, she wasn't on the beach she had dreamed of. She was in a dusty, old cellar with only stone and hard ground as company.

Her hands were tied behind her back, making it hurt around her angles. She couldn't remember anything, with her head aching like it had been smashed into the wall at least five times. She was lying in an uncomfortable position, with her face down facing the ground and her legs bent in front of her.

Carefully she sat up, forcing herself not to make a sound though her hands hurt. She leaned against the wall while looking around. It was definitely a cellar. It wasn't too big, but very old because of the rusty, old hooks that was attached to the walls. It was cold there, with the wind hitting her face from the iron gates beside her. A huge lock was the only thing preventing her from opening the gates and escape from there.

She tried to untie the knot that was keeping her hands from become free, but it was too tight to get open. She really was stuck.

Hope leaned back with a sigh, if she had payed attention in magic class then she probably would have a spell to get her out of this mess. But she was a lazy person and she hadn't payed attention, which gave the result of no spell to get her out of there. Great.

The last thing she could remember before everything went dark was the man Mikael, he had told her his name and that she could help him kill his son. She remembered Elijah talking about someone named Mikael, their father. But it couldn't be him, could it? If so, then that meant he was after Klaus, and he would do everything in his power to make sure Klaus would die.

Hope got up on her feet and walked toward the iron bars, on the other side of them there was a dark tunnel . But that was everything she managed to see except for the torches that were lighting up her cage and another one next to the one she was locked in. She had never been trapped like this before and she definitely didn't like it. She didn't even know how long she had been knocked out, an hour? A day?

Hope shook her head and took a couple of steps backwards until her back hit the wall. She leaned her head against the wall of stone and closed her eyes. She felt more abandoned than when she had been in New York, what if her family couldn't find her? Would she die here? For the first time in her life she was afraid of dying, she didn't want to leave earth like this. Not now when she had gotten someone into her life worth loving.

A sudden loud sound made her eyes shoot open, she could hear steps coming closer. But to her surprise she could distinguish more than one person's footsteps. Had her family found her?

The excitement that filled her for a moment was at once drained out of her when she met the eyes of the man who had kidnapped her. He was even more disgusting than she had remembered him to be.

"Good, you're awake, lass," he said before reaching toward the cage next to hers. Hope neither answered nor moved, instead her eyes found a blonde girl next to Mikael.

She was a young woman, with pale skin, green-blue eyes and medium length blond hair. She was wearing casual denim jeans, a top with a dark jacket. Hope didn't recognize the woman, but the look on her face, she did know Hope.

The woman's face was filled with scratches, and her hands was also tied with the same kind of rope that Hope's was. Mikael opened the gate to the second cage and shoved the woman inside before locking it again.

"My family will find me," Hope said between her teeth. She was brave enough to meet Mikael's eyes, he looked at her with a mixture between disgust and cruelty.

Mikael emitted a laugh that sounded like knives driving through Hope's ears. "That's exactly what I am hoping for, lass."

She didn't know how to respond, if Mikael wanted her family to find her then there was nothing for her to do. She couldn't warn them, because her phone was in her bag that Mikael obviously had taken from her. She was probably just the bait, he used her to get to his own children and to finally get his peace by killing them.

"You're pathetic," Hope simply said. She felt the woman's warning glare at her but she decided to ignore it. Instead she bravely met Mikael's eyes as he turned around to face her.

He laughed, making Hope control her emotions not to shiver in disgust. "I'm the pathetic one? You, if anyone, are the most pathetic excuse of a living creature on this earth. A miracle baby, which has led to nothing more than killing and confusion. If there is anyone to blame for my children's reckless behavior, it's you. The only reason why I haven't ended your life yet is because I need to make sure the _boy_ my children call brother, won't walk another day alive again!"

Hope covered her fear by snorting a cold, joyless laugh. "Right, so I'm the one to blame because my grandmother had an affair with another man and a kid was the result? What century are you living in? Wake up, old man, stuff like that happens everyday. Besides, you have failed to kill them for a thousand years, why do you think this time will be any different?" She took a step closer to the iron bars, but stayed far away enough not to be in reach of Mikael's hands.

Mikael looked furious, his eyes scanning her with anger and his body shaking. "That _kid_, is an abomination, a symbol of weakness and a disappointment to anyone who comes near him!"

Then reality struck her, as she looked into Mikael's eyes and read his every movement. It was obvious when she thought about it, why haven't anyone figured it out before?

"You're jealous of him," Hope said in surprise. "You're jealous because of all he has accomplished, you call him weak, but he has proven himself strong because of all he has done even though you were a coward to abuse him as a child. Very brave of you by the way, to hurt a defenseless little kid. How pathetic!"

Mikael's eyes widened in anger, Hope had hit a sore spot. Her mission was accomplished, she now knew how to make him become angry. It was surprisingly easy, although it did scare her that the only thing keeping him from taking a grip around her neck was the bars between them. It was enough for her to make up a plan to get out of here, if Mikael didn't decide to end her life right away, which she doubted because he needed her to get to Klaus.

Mikael grinned. "You're lucky that I still need you, lass. Otherwise you would have been dead long ago."

_Touchdown_.

"I'm not afraid of death nor pain."

"You should be," Mikael said before taking a step closer to the bars, almost touching them. "The thing that is waiting you is far worse than death, girl."

Hope swallowed, feeling how a lump of tears filled her throat. She felt like crying, _why_ had Mikael accomplished to escape? _How_ had he been able to escape anyway? Someone must have killed the witch, but who?

"Can't wait," she hissed between her teeth. Mikael laughed and turned his back toward her before exiting the cellar. Hope took a deep breath once she couldn't hear his footsteps anymore. That had been intense, she hadn't imagined her first meeting with her grandfather to be like this.

"_Seriously_? Do you have a death wish or something?"

Hope had totally forgotten about the other woman in the cage next to hers. But who could really blame her? She had been busy enough to make her crazy grandfather angry. To be honest, she was quite proud of herself and what she had been able to make out of the little information she had gotten about Mikael from Elijah.

She turned toward the blond woman. "Sorry if I offended you, I can't promise it won't happen again." She was ironic, she didn't like her way of speaking to Hope, like she was some sort of idiot or something.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "_Why_ did you do that? To piss him off?"

"Sort of," Hope shrugged. "I needed some information, nothing to worry about."

"You're definitely Klaus' daughter."

"So I've been told."

Hope sat down at the floor with her back against the wall, still watching the blonde woman's every move. She couldn't be much older than herself, somewhat between seventeen and twenty. She was probably a vampire, considering Hope didn't see any reason of Mikael capturing a human.

"Who are you?" Hope asked making her forehead go into deep wrinkles. A part of her already knew the answer to the question, but she had to be sure. She hoped that her assumption were wrong, because if she was right, then this was a much bigger deal than she had thought.

"Caroline Forbes."

Fuck.

Hope couldn't resist to blink a few times in confusion, so this was the woman her father was utterly in love with? The only person who made him more human than anyone else? Hope at once felt a huge wave of respect for this woman flow through her.

"I believe we have a problem," she said when she found her voice again.

"_Now_ you decide to become careful?" Caroline spat out. "Mikael, _the vampire who hunts vampires_, have us locked-in a cage underground and is about to kill all the originals, which will lead to every vampire's death!"

Hope clenched her teeth, she didn't like Caroline's way of talking to her. She wasn't an idiot, she knew exactly what she was doing. It was only a matter of time before they would be out of here.

Besides, people acted less careful when they were angry and had things to think about. Mikael had definitely got a lot on his mind after she had talked to him, which would probably cause him to make at least one mistake. Hopefully that mistake would be something that could drag her family's attention.

Hope avoided contact with Caroline, not because she didn't like her, but because she didn't trust her. She knew Mikael was a vampire hunter, but how could he have figured out that Caroline was in town within hours? Of course, maybe he had some guy on the inside that had given him information while his time in the basement at the Abattoir. But still, it didn't make sense to her just yet.

She lost track of time after a while in silence, she could hear the sound of dripping water somewhere close. Which made her mouth become dry, she hadn't drunk anything for hours. Her stomach howled for something to eat. She literally could feel how her strength begun to dry out of her, as her hands started to feel numb and her eyes wanted to shut themselves and fall into deep slumber.

"Where are we anyway?" Hope spoke as Caroline decided to quit walking around in her cellar and sat down against the wall.

"I think it's called the Bayou," Caroline answered. "We're in some sort of underground cellar underneath a lake."

At least that explained the sound of water.

"Are you okay?"

Hope allowed herself to look up at Caroline when she asked her that question. "What do you mean?"

"This must be a lot for you to handle, I mean everything with vampires and werewolves," Caroline explained, her voice sounded much smoother and understanding now than for a couple of minutes ago.

"How did you become a vampire?" Hope asked without even thinking about it could be a sensitive subject to discuss. After the last month with her birth family, she had learnt that the supernatural creatures wasn't a touchy thing to talk about, or at least not around them. But with others – she wasn't as sure.

Caroline took a deep breath, but she didn't seem too anxious about the subject. "I was killed by a vampire named Katherine Pierce with Damon Salvatore's blood in my system."

"Elijah told me about them," Hope told her while switching her seat when her hands started to cramp. "Katherine was the first dubblegänger, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, and the most bitchy one if you ask me," Caroline snorted.

They kept on talking about Caroline's previous life in Mystic Falls, she also told Hope more details about her father when they had been in the city. It was both frightening and fascinating to hear about how Klaus had handled things years ago and how he had acted towards those people who had lived there. Obviously he had been one hell of a pain in the ass for Caroline, although that didn't seem to bother her much anymore.

"So how about you?" Caroline asked as she had ended her story about a fling she'd had in Paris a couple of years ago. "I guess Klaus has a short leash when it comes to boys?"

Hope chuckled, well at least she had got that one right. "Yeah, but I'm not really seeing anyone at the moment. I've enough going on anyway."

Caroline nodded, she obviously did understand what Hope was talking about. To be honest, Hope had never been in love, she didn't know what it felt like. Sure she had had plenty of boyfriends, but none of them truly meant anything to her. She had never felt love in her entire life.

"Someone is coming," Caroline whispered and got on her feet in the same moment as Hope did. She already knew who it was, the footsteps were way too slow for being her parent's.

"Great, you're both awake," Mikael smiled when he appeared around the corner. "No more waiting, my lovelies, it's time for some action."

He reached for the lock on Hope's door and ripped it in pieces. Well, at least she wouldn't have to be stuck in the cell anymore.

"Come on now, lass. We have work to get to," Mikael spat and took a hard grip around Hope's arm. She bit herself in her lip not to scream in pain, she didn't want to seem weak in front of him. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. "You too, blondie."

He did the same thing to Caroline's lock as he had done with Hope's before he pushed both of them in front of him through the corridor. Hope stumbled at the feet, she was so tired she had problem standing straight. If she only could find enough strength so she would feel so helpless, but she couldn't, all she wanted to do was sleep.

The light of the moon hit her face at once she step out in the cold, night air. She felt like she could finally breathe again after have been underground.

"Come on, lass, we don't have the whole night," Mikael growled and pushed her in the back so she nearly fell face-down on the ground but managed to stay on her feet in the last second.

Just as Caroline had told her earlier, they were by a lake with not more than forest surrounding them from every corner. They had gotten out of an underground cellar, which was almost impossible to spot because of the huge bushes that were covering the entrance.

Right in front of them an open area appeared, with an open space lightened up by small torches on the ground formed as a huge circle. In the middle of the circle of fire, Hope found two people. One – a person she didn't recognize, it was a dark girl with black hair and an empty look on her face, the second one – the person she did recognize, made her heart stop inside her chest.

"Sam!" Hope called out, she didn't know if she should be thrilled or terrified because of her best friend from New York being here. Probably frightened because of the fact that it was Mikael who kept them hostage.

Mikael pushed both Caroline and Hope inside the circle of fire before he entered after them. Sam shook his head as a warning when Hope took an impulsive step towards him but was held back by Mikael's grip around her arm.

"What do you want with him?" she asked with her eyes shooting daggers at Mikael.

"You will find out soon enough, lass," Mikael said with a low chuckle. Hope swallowed, this would definitely be a long night.

"Don't try and run," the other dark girl suddenly spoke. Caroline had made her way toward the line of fire, probably because she had seen an opportunity to run when Hope distracted Mikael. "Once you enter, you can't leave."

She was a witch!It made total sense, but why would Mikael need a witch? And Sam? And Caroline? Hope didn't get it, the only thing that could kill an original was the white oak stake, which Klaus had because he had taken it from Mikael at the same moment his ugly-fat ass had been thrown into the basement.

Mikael finally decided to let go of Hope and she didn't waste a second before she ran over to Sam, who immediately embraced her.

"You okay?" she asked without hesitation. It felt weird to see him again, to be able to _feel_ him. Now she understood how much she actually had missed him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said before letting her go. He looked over her shoulder at Mikael and the witch who now were talking with low whispers. Caroline tried to make it through the circle of fire, but an invincible wall stopped her from escaping.

Sam reached for the rope that still were around her ankles and started to untie them.

"Why are you here?" she whispered. "You shouldn't be here!"

"I was at home and got a phone call telling me I have to come to New Orleans, I don't know why or why I couldn't do anything else than what the voice told me to do."

Hope eyes widened. "He _compelled_ you!"

"Compelled? What are you-"

"Enough with the small talk!" Mikael screamed just as Sam managed to get rid of the ropes. It felt relieving to finally be able to move her arms again. "We have a lot to do, come here lass."

He waved his hand toward Hope, who turned quickly to meet Sam's eyes. "If you get a chance, run!"

He nodded, although Hope already knew he was compelled not to leave. She hadn't seen anything like this before, but she had been able to figure out what this was. It was a sacrifice.

It was at that moment that she realised how high the moon was on the sky, which meant that it was past midnight. It was her birthday, she was no longer a sixteen-year-old kid, she was seventeen. _Happy birthday_, _Hope_, she thought.

"Right on time," Mikael said with a huge smile on his cruel face. "Make sure those two don't do anything!"

He pointed at Caroline and Sam, and the witch raised her hand toward both of them. They both fell onto their knees, with their hands covering their ears and screams escaped their lungs in pain. Hope made an impulse to run over to them, but Mikael took a grip around her shoulder, holding her back with his strength.

"Not so fast, lass," he whispered. He pushed her down to her knees in front of him so she was facing the woods, where she now could see silhouettes of people appearing by the trees. Her heart made a jump inside her chest. _No!_

"Let go of her!" Hayley's heartbroken scream echoed through Hope's ears when they stepped into the light of fire. Elijah reached out his arm to stop her from running into the circle. Although Hope was pretty sure none of them were able to enter anymore, the witch had probably made a spell that prohibit them from doing it.

"You sick monster, don't you dare touch her!" Hayley continued to scream, tears running down her face. Hope at once regretted everything she had ever done to make her mother angry or sad, watching her suffer like this was too much.

Kol and Rebekah kept themselves behind Hayley and Elijah in the shadows, probably trying to find a way around the spell. Hope also found Marcel, standing beside Rebekah with his eyes shooting daggers at Mikael.

"What do you want?" Hope's eyes finally found her father. Klaus was pacing forth and back by the fire, she could feel his anxiousness pouring out of his body. He, just as her, hated to feel useless and helpless. "I swear if you hurt her I will make your death the worst suffering you have ever felt!"

His eyes shifted in yellow as he spoke.

"Not so though now are you, _boy_?" Mikael mocked with a huge grin covering his face. "Diandra, please love, bring the lad over."

He made a gesture toward the witch, who nodded and reached her arm toward Sam. He got up on his feet with a painful grimace on his face before stumbling over to Mikael and Hope.

"Let her go!" Hayley begged while struggling against the grip Elijah held around her. Mikael ignored her and pulled out a knife from his pocket. Klaus at once flinched toward the wall of fire, which flamed up and stopped him from passing.

He gritted his teeth. "You will regret this!"

"Quiet, boy!" Mikael shouted. "This is nothing more than a simple test."

He took a hard grip around Sam's wrist and dragged the blade over his skin, making a deep wound appear with dripping blood pouring out of it. Hope's eyes widened, she could _feel_ the urge of tasting it. At once her head became a total blur, she couldn't think or concentrate on anything else than the blood. She _needed_ it.

She wasn't the only one realising what was about to happen, Rebekah had taken a step forward beside Klaus and covered her mouth with her hands making a _oh-my-god_ sound. Mikael grabbed the back of Hope's head and threw her toward Sam's wrist. It was only inches away from her, she could literally _smell_ it. She wouldn't be able to keep herself from it this time, even though it was Sam. She would have to kill Sam.

Klaus had teared his gaze of Mikael and met Hope's eyes. They were worried, but also understanding and they somehow managed to calm her down.

"It's okay sweetheart," he whispered. "It's going to be okay."

Mikael wasn't too patient though. "Come on, lass, have at it!"

And so she did. She couldn't resist it, the smell was too much. Her whole body wanted it, although her head screamed at her that she shouldn't. She kept on drinking, tasting the euphoric drink that made her throat feel whole. She was too busy concentrating on drinking that the sound of her family and Sam's scream went past her. On the same time that she felt fully alive, she couldn't think. Almost like a ghost.

It wasn't until she felt Sam's body relax and fade away in her arms that she made herself let go of the boy's lifeless body. She had killed her best friend with her own hands and she didn't even feel a wave of regret.

"Excellent", Mikael said and dragged Hope back onto her feet, leaving Sam's body dead on the ground. His eyes were shut, his body lying in an uncomfortable position. She had killed her best friend. She was a _murderer_.

Her hands were shaking, she couldn't manage to look at anyone so she kept her eyes closed. Though her body felt different, she was stronger, she could feel the earth underneath her in another way. She could hear everyone's heartbeat, the leaves that slowly waved in the same pulse as the wind and the water of the lake pushing against the shore.

It was a powerful feeling, to know exactly what the other people around her felt, thought and wanted. Her ability to read people had become stronger, she felt invincible. The price of becoming a hybrid had been much, though she couldn't find the right words to describe what she felt. A part of her were thrilled with her new senses and strengths, another wanted to scream out in pain for the loss of Sam. The third part of her wanted to shut it all out, every feeling, every thought, it wanted it all gone.

Mikael held her head in a strong grip, making her neck bend in an uncomfortable position. She let out a cry in pain, her full transition hadn't completed yet, though she knew it tried to process it.

"Open your eyes, lass," he demanded.

Hope shook her head, she didn't want to. All she wanted to do was to run away, far away from here where no one could find her again. She wanted to be alone, just stop thinking for a while and not have to worry about anything. It would be so nice, not to care of anything. Just let go.

"What are you trying to prove, father?" Klaus exclaimed, rage covering his voice. "You can't kill neither of us now."

"Quiet, boy! This has nothing to do with either of you!" Mikael shouted. Hope screamed in pain of her ears inhaling the shouting noise, she wasn't used to hear anything this loud. She covered her ears with her hands and fell down on her knees, couldn't this just stop?

Mikael didn't appreciate her weakness, he roughly took a handful of her hair in his hand and ripped her head backwards. "I said, open your eyes, lass!"

Rebekah screamed at him to stop and Hope could hear their attempts to get through the invincible wall. Useless tries though, the witch was too strong.

So she opened her eyes with a start, causing all of her family members gasp for air.

"Now this is interesting," Mikael whispered before he let go of her. Hope stumbled forward and crashed into the ground.

She met the eyes of her family, they looked confused, almost a little bit scared. What was it with her eyes?

"Bring the blonde one," Mikael then commanded to the witch. Diandra nodded and smiled without joy as she reached for Caroline and forced her toward Mikael and Hope.

It was at that as the Mikaelson's finally tore their gazes away from Hope and found Caroline's painful face. Hope could only imagine the feelings going through her father's mind now.

She tried to make her legs work again to back away, but something kept her in place. Not magic, not Mikael. She was too weak and tired to move. shouldn't her transition into a hybrid make her stronger instead of a helpless kid?

"What are you doing?" Klaus hissed between his teeth, Hope lifted her head enough to see the white oak stake in a hard grip in his hand. He would kill Mikael the first chance he got.

"A little experiment," Mikael answered. He took the knife from his pocket again and reached for Hope's wrist. He then pulled up her jacket sleeve and let the blade drag over her bare skin, making red blood pour out of it.

Hope tried to struggle against him, but it was useless. Mikeal reached for Caroline, made her drink the blood from Hope's vanes before he let go of both of them and pushed Hope to the side. She crashed into the ground a couple of feet away from Mikael and Caroline.

Caroline's face were covered with blood, she let out a cry in pain when Mikael forced her onto her feet.

"I will kill you!" Klaus warned with the stake dangerously in his hand.

"Shut up, you pathetic excuse of a living creature!" Mikael said.

"You won't get away with this!" Klaus continued.

Mikael laughed, a cold laugh that made Hope shiver all the way into the heart of her bones. He grabbed Caroline's neck with one of his hands, picking up a stick of wood with the other one.

Hope got up on her feet and started toward Mikael. But it was too late, he had already pushed the stake through Caroline's heart. She took one last breath, before she fell into her knees and closed her eyes. Her body didn't move, she laid lifeless beside Sam. Not moving. Not breathing.

The only sound they could hear was the scream of a hurt immortal man: "_Caroline_!"


	12. Breaking The Habit

**So, here it is, the final chapter of this journey. Though I have a lot yet to come, I've started writing on the sequel to this story and I will publish the first chapter as soon as I know where it's heading. Also, there is an epilogue to this story that I will publish in a couple of days. So don't unfollow this story quite yet. **

**I promise to let you know when I publish the continuation to this fanfiction, I can give away that I've named it - _Fairy Tale Gone Bad._**

**THANK YOU so much for all the love! I never thought I would receive such great reviews! :) Also, if you have any recommendations for the sequel, let me know! ;)**

**Other than that, please enjoy this final chapter! **

* * *

**Chapter 12 – Breaking the Habit**

* * *

_Memories consume__  
__Like opening the wound__  
__I'm picking me apart again__  
__You all assume__  
__I'm safe here in my room__  
__Unless I try to start again__I don't want to be the one__  
__The battles always choose__  
__'Cause inside I realize__  
__That I'm the one confused__I don't know what's worth fighting for__  
__Or why I have to scream.__  
__I don't know why I instigate__  
__And say what I don't mean.__  
__I don't know how I got this way__  
__I know it's not alright.__  
__So I'm breaking the habit,__  
__I'm breaking the habit__  
__Tonight_

_- Linking Park, Breaking the Habit_

* * *

It was like the time had stopped. No one moved, no one talked. Klaus' face was a mixture of emotions, like he didn't know how to react after his helpless scream of Caroline's name. Everyone just stared at the lifeless body in front of Mikael's feet. He was the only one smiling, amused by the scene playing before his eyes.

Then it all broke. Hope wasn't able to control herself anymore, a sudden rage made her throat growl and she took a leap toward Mikael. But instead of ripping his head of his body, she pushed him down the ground and started toward the witch.

Diandra didn't have time to stop Hope before she was right in front of her. Hope gritted her teeth, she could literally feel the fangs growing in her mouth. It was a powerful feeling, to see the fear flashing over another one's face. She didn't know where her sudden strength had come from, maybe the anger that filled her was the thing triggering her hybrid side to its fullest.

Before Hope had a chance to end the witch's pathetic life, she was knocked out of the way by no one other than Mikael. She flew a couple of meters in the air before crashing into the ground and rolling around before her fingers digged themselves into the dirt and stopping her from going any further.

"You fool, I'm a thousand years older than you. What makes you think you can defeat me?" Mikael said, he walked past Diandra, probably in case Hope would try to kill her again.

Hope got up on her feet before dusting some dirt off her clothes. She felt Klaus' gaze hit her, but she managed to force herself not to look at him. She was scared what she would meet in his eyes if she did so. Instead she tilted her head to her side and looked at Mikael, she wasn't scared anymore. She didn't see any reason to be.

_She_ was the tribrid.

No one else.

Only _her_.

"What are you going to do? Kill all of us?" Hope breathed. She was swimming in deep water now, she was well aware of it. But as long as her family were safe, she was happy. Although a part of her knew that her family was about to be torn apart if she died and she couldn't let that happen. They had gotten too far already, they weren't finished yet!

She made an impulsive decision to rush over to Mikael in the belief she could knock him unconscious. Of course, he had more experience in such matters, and managed to take a strong grip around her wrists before she could reach his face. She spun her around, with the back against him and her arms linked behind her back. _Fool_, she told herself.

"Toss over the stake, boy, or I will rip your precious daughter's heart out of her cold chest," Mikael threatened. His eyes were linked with the man he called bastard, the man he had named an abomination his entire life. Now Hope finally understood the fear in her father's eyes, Mikael was the monster. Not Klaus.

Hope finally allowed herself to meet Klaus' eyes and she shook her head. She wouldn't allow him to give Mikael the white oak stake, if he had it then nothing could stop him from killing all of them. She could take one for the team if she had to.

"I will count to three," Mikael said, satisfaction covering his face expression. Klaus tightened his grip around the stake, it was written all over his face how he tried to make up his mind. "Three … "

"Do it, Klaus!" Hayley screamed.

None of Klaus' siblings knew what to say, so they all looked like mute statues. With their mouth closed and without any emotions covering their faces.

"Two … "

Hope struggled against Mikael's grip as he moved his hand over her chest right above her pounding heart. She breathed fast and tried to find one thing to make her angry enough to find her strength again. But she felt nothing more than useless. She was about to die.

"Klaus!" Rebekah screamed when Mikael opened his mouth.

"One!"

Mikael's hand buried itself in the inside of Hope's chest, she could feel his fingers gripping around her heart. She would die, she would soon see the light and walk into the comfort it contained. She opened her mouth in a painful gasp, she couldn't breathe and her mind was all a room filled with fog. Cruel world.

"Stop!" Klaus screamed, his voice near the breaking point. "I will do it!"

Hope took a deep breath as Mikael's hand disappeared from her chest, it felt like having a bunch of stones moved from your pocket while you climbed a mountain.

Hope was just about to scream at her father not to do it when he threw the stake over the circle of fire. Mikael's low chuckle made her blood freeze. Now they were all doomed.

"Let go of her," Klaus growled as he took a step backwards from the fire.

"You impulsive, stupid, little boy. Still too dumb to think things trough before you decide what's best," Mikael laughed.

His grip tightened and his hand trailed up toward her heart again. Klaus rushed against them but was pushed back by the wall and fell down to the ground, causing a deep track of dirt appear from where he had landed.

"I will kil you so slowly you won't remember your own name!" he screamed already on his feet again and in front of the fire. Hayley screamed and cried at the same time as Mikael's hand disappeared inside Hope's chest once again.

Hope choked, she couldn't breathe as his nails buried themselves inside her heart. Her eyes became a blur, she didn't want this. She didn't want to die!

And then he ripped his hand backwards.

She prepared for the light, for fading away into the darkness. But nothing happened, she could still feel her heart beat inside her chest.

"What-" Mikael stumbled back and watched his empty hand. There should be a heart, but there were nothing.

Hope took a couple of stabilising breaths as she realised what was happening. Mikael couldn't rip her heart out. She smiled in victory as she lifted her head to meet Mikael's confused eyes. "I'm a born tribrid, you can't kill me!"

Her eyes flashed into their true color before her fangs dropped out and she rushed against Mikael. But instead of ripping his head of, she once again started toward Diandra. The only difference this time was that she didn't hesitate before she snapped the witch's head.

As soon as the witch fell down to the ground, lifeless, the fire burnt out and disappeared like it never had been there. Klaus didn't waste any minute before he picked up the stake which was only three feet from him. Mikael was still too overwhelmed with the fact that Hope couldn't die, that he didn't even react before Klaus was in front of him.

Hayley was soon beside Hope, with her arms around her. Hope let herself become embraced by her mother as her knees failed her and she fell onto the ground. She was too weak to stand on her feet anymore, but she didn't care. She finally felt safe again.

As for Mikael, he found himself surrounded by all of his children. Marcel joined Hayley and Hope, with a hand on her shoulder. Hope understood, this was something between a father and his children.

"Four against one," Mikael hissed. "How brave of you."

"Enough with the manipulation, father," Elijah said. "Where is Esther?"

"Long gone," Mikael answered, a cold smile covering his face.

Klaus grip around the stake tightened, Hope could feel the anger pouring out of him. How every inch of him wanted to end his father's life here and now.

"Let's kill him," Kol said. He didn't even sound the least sad. "Before he does one of his little tricks."

"I will find a way back again, and again and again. You will never get rid of me!" Mikael screamed and took a step closer to Kol who wouldn't allow himself to flinch back even though he wanted to.

"The other side is gone," Rebekah announced. "It has been gone for over a decade now. May you find your peace, father."

"No!" Fear reflected his eyes as all of his children took a step closer to him and making his angle of escaping smaller. He hadn't got a chance now. He was about to take his final breaths once and for all.

"You're all pathetic," Mikael hissed in anger. "You choose to stand beside that _abomination_, you will all die miserable and alone. He will destroy all of your lives, you don't deserve to live, not anyone of you! Especially not you, _boy!_"

Mikael's eyes flashed against Klaus, who wouldn't let himself step back. It was now or never and all of the siblings knew it, this was the moment they would finally be free from their father. This time once and for all.

"No, Mikael, you are the pathetic one," Klaus whispered with calm voice before he raised the stake. It was over in seconds, with Kol and Elijah holding Mikael in a strong grip and Klaus who pushed the stake through Mikael's chest.

The next moment he was set on fire and shortly thereafter he was gone. Not a single trace of him left on the ground, only the white oak stake and the four siblings staring at the empty spot where their father had disappeared.

It took a while before they understood that the threat of their father finally was gone and Kol was the first one to move and pick up the stake. He weighted it in his hand before he handed it to Elijah who put it into safety in his jacket.

Hope finally got back up onto her feet and Hayley let herself let go of her daughter. Klaus turned around to put his arms around Hope as she approached him, he didn't care if they saw him cry for the relief of his daughter's safety. They were all alive and safe. Or at least almost all of them.

"It's okay, you're safe now, sweetheart," Klaus mumbled in her ear and causing tears to fall down her cheek.

Hope let herself bury her face in his shoulder, tugging him even closer to her. She had almost let herself lose her sanity for a moment, this night had been beyond her knowledge. She finally understood what her family had been through, what they had suffered from and what they had lost. She should be thanking them for giving her the best chance she had when they sent her away from all the dangerous creatures that wanted her dead.

"Thank you," she whispered between the sobbing into Klaus' jacket. She wasn't sure if anyone heard her, though she didn't care, they were finally safe from Mikael.

When they finally let go of one another, Marcel had already disappeared together with Kol to make sure the nightwalkers wouldn't run around in the French Quarters killing everyone that got in their way.

"How did you find me?" she then asked, looking around at her family.

"Mikael left us a message," Elijah answered taking out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Telling us he had you in his gasp and where you were."

"I don't understand," Hope said shaking her head. She didn't understand anything, why would Mikael want to trigger her hybrid side anyway? He must have known a hybrid was a powerful creature, so why risk his own life for nothing? There was something they were missing, something obvious that they hadn't been able to see yet. But what?

Before anyone had a chance to answer her, a sudden gasp for air sounded from beside them. Caroline sat up with a start, still with Hope's blood covering most of her face and shirt. Her eyes spun around in panic and shock in belief she could find something to calm her down.

It didn't take long before Klaus crouched beside her with a protective hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, love."

Caroline kept gasping for air while trying to calm her pulse down to its normal rhythm, her eyes gazing around the place with her pupils big as a bug. Hope, who still felt tired, sat down in front of Caroline to rest her body for a while. How in hell was she supposed to walk to the compound from here? She could barely stand up.

"Wha- …Klaus? What happened?" Caroline finally found her voice. Her forehead went into deep wrinkles when she looked into Hope's eyes. "Something isn't right."

Caroline looked down at her hands, they were also covered in dry blood and dirt from the ground. She blinked a few times before taking a deep breath and keeping her eyes closed.

"You're just dizzy sweetheart," Klaus said in determination. He didn't want to spend another minute at this place. "Let's go back to-"

"No!" Caroline exclaimed, but not because of Klaus' suggestion. She looked devastated and confused, almost like she had just lost her favorite puppy in the woods and wasn't able to find it. "I … I can't … "

"Oh my god," Rebekah suddenly gasped. Her eyes were widened in fear. "Nik, Caroline isn't a hybrid."

Klaus looked up at his sister. "What?"

"I'm not a hybrid, I'm not a werewolf and-," Caroline took a deep breath," I'm not a vampire anymore."

Hope felt stupid, was she the only one here not understanding what was going on? How can a person who has been a vampire suddenly not be a vampire anymore? She shook her head, it hurt, her whole head felt like it was about to explode.

"What does that mean?" Hope almost screamed when no one seemed to want to confirm Caroline's statement.

"It means she is human again," Elijah said.

Hope stiffened. "Wait what? So my blood can turn vampires into humans? You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Enough with this supernatural drama, she had had enough. All she wanted was a normal family who didn't care if she wasn't like every other teenager, a family who were there for her no matter what. Sure, the Mikaelson's were great, but this supernatural thing made her brain feel like a bag of stones. She could barely breathe normal.

"How is this possible?" Hayley asked, well Hope didn't feel as lonely with the confused thoughts anymore.

"I have no clue," Elijah replied, dragging his hand through his hair. "But I believe Mikael knew this and that was why he didn't kill Hope. He was going to use her blood to make us humans again and thereby kill us much easier."

"The balance of nature," Klaus muttered. "I suggest we keep this a secret, otherwise vampires all around the globe would want her to heal them from their prison."

Hope nodded in agreement without hesitation, she wouldn't want people to come to her for a cure against them being a vampire. But did this mean that she could cure werewolves too? Probably not, she had sired her mother once, although Hayley had gotten herself unlinked to her by turning into a wolf about a hundred times. Which meant that she could make hybrids, at least there was something positive about this that came to her mind at the moment.

"I surprisingly enough have to agree with Niklaus," Elijah announced. "For Hope's safety."

Caroline, who probably still felt a bit overwhelmed by the news, slowly nodded before she managed to get up on her feet with the help of Klaus. "So what should we do with this situation?"

"Let's talk about it when we get back to the compound," Hayley said without giving any of them a choice. "It's not safe here."

"Hayley is right, Esther is still out there somewhere," Elijah agreed. They started to turn around to walk through the forest back to the city, all of them with tired looks and heavy feet. But it was over and they could finally breathe again.

"Wait! What about Sam?" Hope suddenly remembered when her eyes caught the cold, white body of her best friend. He looked so peaceful, so calm with his eyelids shut and pale face of his. "I can't just leave him here."

"He is dead, love, nothing we can do about it."

Hope glanced at her father, of course she knew he was dead, but Sam's parents were probably worried sick. She couldn't let them walk around without the knowledge that their oldest son had died, that much humanity was still within her.

"I will take care of it," Elijah offered. He put a warming hand on Hope's shoulder and gave her one of his promise looks. "The rest of you should head back to the Quarters before the sun rises."

Hope shot one last gaze at Sam's dead body before she followed the others through the forest, the only thing keeping her from not falling onto her knees was the thought of soon getting some sleep. It had been a long night, she needed some rest and time to figure stuff out. She was after all a hybrid now, she would need blood to survive and training in how to control herself.

So maybe her family had found their redemption at one level, because she now knew she would always have them no matter what. She had found someone to trust, someone she knew always would listen to her and would come for her if she called. A family.

They still had a long way to go though, battles to fight, decisions to make and themselves to protect from enemies and people who came crossing their path. But one thing for sure, they would get through all of it, as a family.

* * *

**If you want to see my amateur promo picture for the sequel, then go visit my profile! ;)**


	13. Epilogue - I Do Believe

**Epilogue – I do Believe **

It was a powerful feeling, to lift from the air with your own speed and then land on the soft – yet hard – ground with both of your feet and then travel faster down the hill. Snowboarding was something Hope had always wanted to try and a skiing vacation during the Christmas holiday was something she hadn't been able to turn down.

It had been Kol's idea, but Rebekah had been the one whining about it, so they decided to do as the blonde brat of the Mikaelson's wanted. They had just finished packing up their belongings in New Orleans when they had decided to take some time off. Because the thing was, they wouldn't return to the French Quarters anymore. It had taken a while for Klaus to let go of the city he had in his grip, but he had actually been the one to admit that the city had once been their home years ago, but not anymore. It was time to move on, time to find another place to call home and leave the old one in the hands of its heir; Marcel.

And so the search had begun.

Hope's eyes caught Kol and Rebekah at the bottom of the hill and smiled as she sped up before making a fast stop in front of Kol, causing a wave of snow rain over him. Rebekah bursted out in laughter, as Kol muttered nasty words while brushing the snow off him.

"We have been here for two days and you already know how to make a three-sixty," Kol said with his voice as grumpy as his face.

"I'm a natural, feel free to blame me," Hope shrugged. Of course her new abilities as a hybrid made its effort, but she was still very proud of how fast she had learned how to manage the snowboard. It was even more fun when she knew how much it tortured Kol.

She bent down to unlink herself from her board, if she hadn't been a supernatural creature then her whole body would be in pieces. It had been hours since she last had eaten something, and by that she meant real food and not the red, liquid form.

"Maybe if you stopped watching girls, Kol, you wouldn't fall flat on your face all the time," Rebekah suggested with a teasing grin.

"Sod off."

"What time is dinner again?" Hope asked when she picked up her board and looked over toward the small café that were situated in the bottom of the hill. She already knew where to find her father, Klaus wasn't much of a skier, and spent most of their vacation by the bar. As for Hayley and Elijah, they spent most of their time at the cottage they have rented.

"Half past six," Rebekah answered and checked her phone. "It's almost five now."

"I'm starving, I could eat a whole buffet of sexy women," Kol grinned.

"Not _that_ kind of dinner, you bloody idiot!"

"This rule about no killing during the holiday is killing me."

"Just shut up, Kol!"

Hope shook her head, a lot had change about the Mikaelson's after that night of her seventeenth birthday. They all had become more calm, protective and actually more aware of the living people around them. Even Klaus was more careful now, though it could have something to do with the fact that Esther still was out there somewhere biding her time. No one had seen any track of Hope's grandmother and it was something that they would have to face one day. Esther would want her revenge, she would fight for her children's death and everyone knew it.

"I will go and check on Nik," Hope said when she grew tired of Rebekah's and Kol's argument. Apparently Kol thought Rebekah dressed as a prostitute, which of course wasn't appropriate during family time. Hope understood that Kol was only after Rebekah to become angry at him, he loved nothing more than to tease with people.

She didn't bother waiting for an answer from either of them before walking past them toward the huge building behind them. She left her board outside the door before stepping into the warm entrance. It was a really cold winter, with loads of snow on the ground which were filled with a new cover of white flakes every night.

For Hope, who never had seen anything like this before, thought it was very beautiful and a sight she would remember for the rest of her eternal life. She had never experienced a real winter or a Christmas worth remembering. When her adoptive parents still were together they hadn't celebrated Christmas, mostly because it had reminded her adoptive father about his mother's chronic depressions.

As she had suspected, she found her father sitting by the bar with a glass of bourbon in front of him. To her surprise she didn't see his girlfriend anywhere, Caroline had been invited to join them and she had gladly accepted it. But she had acted a bit strange lately, kept hiding out in her room and only coming out when it was dinner or sometimes to join them on the ski slopes.

Klaus raised his gaze when Hope sat down next to him. "Hello, sweetheart."

"What's up with the grumpy face?" she asked without even greeting him back. She could read him like an open book already, she always knew when something was bothering him or when he had done something terrible.

He sighed and tore his eyes away from hers, emptying the glass of liquor before putting down the glass and refilling it. "Caroline have been acting rather odd these days and I don't know what it is."

Of course that was the thing filling his head with thousands of questions. Caroline was one of the few people in the world brave enough to stand up against Klaus, Hope being the other one with that kind of bravery.

"Yeah, I've noticed," Hope nodded. "Have you asked her about what's bothering her?"

"Yes, but she won't tell me."

He was really mad, she could tell by the look on his face. He did that usual expression where his teeth clenched and eyes went into its darker shade.

"Tried compelling her?"

"Hope!"

"What?" she smiled. "It was a joke, okay?"

Klaus frowned and turned back to his empty glass, which shortly thereafter were filled with bourbon again. If he wouldn't have been a hybrid, then Hope could have sworn he was an alcoholic. Because hybrids couldn't be classified as a alcohol-addict? Or could they?

"Is it because she hasn't made up her mind about becoming a vampire again?" Hope then asked. She knew it was a tense subject at the moment, since Klaus wanted Caroline to be turned back into a vampire, but she wasn't sure about it yet because of all the possibilities as a human.

"I don't know," he muttered without looking at her. He was definitely not in a chat mood.

They stayed silent for a while, enjoying the short break of not worrying about anything and just listening to the other guests in the building. Most of them were either groups of teenagers or parents with their kids, making Hope feel like she didn't belong there at all.

"Have you figured it out, by the way?" Hope then slowly asked with careful voice. It wasn't often that Klaus showed his bad side toward her, but she guessed this was one of these really dark days. "The thing, you know? About my eyes?"

"I have my speculations."

She raised her eyebrows, she wanted to find out, she had walked around long enough without the answer to the one question their all had wondered about ever since her hybrid face was shown the first time. The question about her eyes, why they turned into a dark shade of purple instead of yellow like other hybrids.

"A witch told me it's because you're a born hybrid and because your ability to use magic," Klaus explained. "Therefore the reason why your eyes aren't yellow is because of your genes and unusual strengths."

"That's it?" Hope said in disappointment. She had hoped for some more interesting explanation, like she had some other side that she could trigger too or there was something about her that made her even more special than what she already was. "No other hocus pocus?"

"Sorry, love, that's all there is," Klaus said.

"How lame," she whined and played with a toothpick in her hands. "But purple is more awesome than yellow."

Klaus frowned and rolled his eyes by her comment. Hope swallowed, she could honestly say that she had changed. Not only because of she now being immortal, but also as a person. When she had gotten abducted by Mikael, she had realized how much she actually care for her family and it had opened up her heart in another way than before. She was still the same stubborn girl she had been before and she didn't really believe in 'real love', but her family gave her the things she needed and that was enough for her.

"Hey, dad," Hope said with a low, breaking voice. He looked up from his glass to meet her eyes. "You know I love you, right?"

The touch of smoothness that filled his face made her eyes water, all she could hope for was to her father to become the man he wanted to be and not the one everyone reckoned him to be. He bent down and took her face in his hand before gently planting a kiss on top of her hair.

"I know sweetheart."

* * *

"I promise, she literally stared at me the whole time!" Kol bragged.

"Because you had the bloody clock behind you," Rebekah answered with a snort.

"She smiled at me!"

"In your dreams perhaps."

Kol shot deadly looks at his baby sister before reaching toward his beer on the table. "You're such a buzzkill, Bekah!"

"Hey!" Hope shouted. Ever since Mikael had died and they had found the peace they wanted, all of the family members used the word buzzkill, only to tease Hope. Though no one said buzzkiller, which was her own kind of way of expressing the word.

Kol laughed and leaned back in the coach with a satisfied look upon his face, sometimes Hope wished they had never brought him back to life, though that would also be a lie. She liked her uncle and would probably have to just accept that he could be a dick if he wanted to. And if she grew tired of him then she could lock him up in someone's basement for a century or two. She was after all stronger than him.

"Oh my god!" Kol exclaimed when Elijah appeared around the corner from the kitchen. He walked past Kol and sat down next to Hayley on the couch opposite of the one Kol sat on. "Did all your suits shrink in the dry-cleaner, brother?"

If it hadn't been Christmas eve and she hadn't been so exhausted from the dinner, then Hope definitely would have agreed with Kol by slipping in a comment. Because seeing noble Elijah dressed in sweatpants was a big shock from most people, including Hope and apparently Kol and Rebekah.

"Jealous because they fit me better than on you, brother?" Elijah shot back. He leaned back in his seat before tossing his arm around Hayley's shoulder.

"I believe someone got burned," Hope's mother commented as Kol's jaw dropped.

"Me?" Kol snorted already with his amused expression back. "Not the least, darling. I let him win this argument, consider it a Christmas gift."

Elijah rolled his eyes at his brother just as the rest of the people in the living room of the cottage wanted to do. It had been an unusual calm evening, and not only because Klaus and Caroline were missing, they had decided to have a short chat after dinner. Hope could only imagine how great that would go, it probably ended with Klaus taking off and Caroline screaming after him.

Speaking of the devil. The door knocked open all the sudden and a furious Klaus rushed inside with Caroline close behind him. Surprisingly enough, she didn't look angry at all, more desperate and sad.

Elijah made a move to ask what was going on but Hayley gave him a warning glance, Hope had to agree, they wouldn't want to disturb this fight. Even Kol seemed to understand the seriousness in this situation.

"If you want to leave, by all means, do as you wish!" Klaus growled. He had stopped in front of the corner cabinet where they kept the liquor and filled one of the glasses before drowning it at once.

"Would you just listen to me?" Caroline screamed back. "It's not that!"

"Then what is it? You won't bloody tell me!" His eyes shifted in yellow, but Caroline didn't even notice. Hope sunk in her seat, why was it so hard for Caroline to tell Klaus what was bothering her? It couldn't be that bad, besides, Klaus was a man of experience, he wouldn't care if she left them for a century or two. Although, he might because she wasn't a vampire anymore, nice thoughts Hope.

"Is it because I want you to become a vampire again?" Klaus continued with his voice still filled with rage. "Or haven't you gotten past all the bad decisions I made decades ago?"

Caroline shook her head, tears running down from her exhausted eyes. "No."

Klaus sighed and tore his eyes from hers, noticing the rest of the people in the room. Though he didn't give them any sign that he cared about their participation in this argument.

Hope bit her lip and tried not to feel sorry about Caroline. But she did look torn, tired and completely ruined. That until she took a deep breath to stabilize herself.

"It's nothing like that," Caroline insisted. She dragged her hand through her hair before she strongly met the eyes of the original hybrid and forced him to keep his gaze linked with hers. Her hand moving down to her belly. _Oh my god_. "I'm pregnant, Klaus."

* * *

_When I was a kid, I used to believe in fairy tales. That every story which was written on a piece of paper with the beginning Once Upon A Time and ending They Lived Happily Ever After, actually was reality. As I grew up, my belief in those fictions disappeared. Now I don't know anymore. _

_Could a person say that you have experienced a fairy tale if your life started from the bottom and came to a place where you honestly could say 'and that's when I got everything I've ever dreamed of'? Probably, if you wanted to believe in such things. My life had had many turns, many ups and downs, cries and laughter's, dark days and lighter days. But it was still my life, I had managed to get through every bad day and healed every wound I had gotten. _

_Now, another chapter was about to begin in my life. _

_I guess you could say that my fairy tale begun when my uncle found me in the streets of New York City, it had been a beautiful afternoon when we met – well I guess you could say that we ran into each other on peculiar circumstances. My uncle did free me from my prison, a small apartment with my alcoholic mother, and took me to a place where magic were filling the streets, music and art covering every corner and people walking around with smiles upon their faces. New Orleans, that was supposed to be my home._

_Yet it wasn't._

_I have a tendency of getting myself into trouble, you see, my father is the most hated man on this earth. The original hybrid, the big bad wolf, a reckless man without sympathy. You could ask yourself why this man chose to spare my life after all he had achieved, every person he has chosen to kill, every city he had destroyed, but I don't think you would find any proper answer to that question. On the contrary actually, you would only find yourself getting more perplexed._

_As my new beginning begun in New Orleans, I managed to get myself into trouble already the first couple of days there. I jumped off a bridge to prove myself for a girl in my class who to my defense was a total bitch, I made other people's daily life a living hell by throwing balloons filled with water on them, I manipulated my own father to his edges and hurt my mother by telling her I didn't appreciate her._

_Then why would my story be such an interesting tale to read? Why would anyone want to read about a girl, a normal, a bit impulsive and mean girl, who would come up with pranks and hurt other people? Would that make this girl – this confused and hurt girl – the villain of this story? Maybe._

_After a while in New Orleans I learned that my father, Niklaus Mikaelson, had killed my adoptive parents. My bones were cracked, my pride was gone and I felt devastated by the fact that the two people whom I had believed in for almost seventeen years, were gone. So I ran away. Away from everything that made me feel lonely, confused and out of the ordinary. All I could wish for was a normal family, without any supernatural, but as you should already know, life isn't exactly a bed of roses. You have to face your problems and be strong enough to take consequences, well this time Niklaus Mikaelson – the optional villain for this fairytale – happened to be my savior._

_He was the one to convince me not to give up on this family, the royal Mikaelson family. So I did as he said and I fought for what I thought was right. I fought for our family and to make it whole again, just as my noble uncle Elijah once had promised me to be. That I would be the one to save this family._

_Though our kingdom was about to fall apart, nothing could keep us together or from fighting each other. We blamed one another for our own mistakes, we gave each other glances of death and the royal family was literally about to fall apart. It was the end of an era, and we all could feel it. It was time to say good bye. _

_Though it wasn't until my transition to a hybrid that everything changed. The evil stepfather of Niklaus, Mikael, wanted nothing more than to see his children dead. Mikael kidnapped me and turned me into the monster everyone feared, a hybrid. The most powerful creature in this world. I had magic, I had some vampire, I had some wolf, which was the biggest mistake in Mikael's thousand years on earth – he had awaken the monster inside of me and it became his death. The death of the man that had started this whole story over a thousand years ago, made the royal family come together as one at last. The fear of losing each other had made them see the light of love again and they allowed themselves to get embraced by it. They were finally able to call themselves a family. _

_The little, mean and impulsive girl was also handed a gift. A gift with the ability of healing people who had died but had come back to life because of a curse. This girl's pure blood could heal vampires from their prison of eternity. And when a small-town girl crossed her path, she stumbled upon a journey beyond her belief. It led to a life. A life filled with light. _

_You could believe that the fairy tale ended here, and to be honest, a part of it did. Although there were much more to tell, more stories, happenings and lines to be crossed. I, however, am a really curious girl who seeks thrill. I would never say no to an adventure. So my story carried on. For how long? I don't know. But for me? An eternity._

_My name is Hope Mikaelson._

_I'm a born tribrid._

_Part vampire, part wolf and part witch._

_I'm the most powerful creature in this world._

_And I do believe in fairy tales._

* * *

**That's it for this time, folks. Hope you've enjoyed this time, because I have! One last, huge THANK YOU! And we'll hopefully see each other as I publish the sequel to this story. Until then .. ;)**


	14. Author's Note

**Hey guys! Told you I would let you know when the sequel is up! **

**Which it is right now, so go check it out! It's called Fairy Tale Gone Bad!**

** Read and review, thank you! :D**


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